Does Your Company Need EHS Software? 4 Signs It’s Time to Buy
Thinking about buying EHS software? Here are 4 clear signs it’s time for your company to make the investment. Find out if you’re ready for an EHS management tool.
By Dylan DeZeeuw
EHS software is a hot topic among environmental, health and safety managers. There are a lot of options out there, and as they gain popularity, you might be wondering if it’s time for your company to upgrade from those Excel spreadsheets and paper checklists; especially if you find yourself spending more time than you’d like managing EHS compliance.
Here are four signs it’s time to consider buying EHS management software:
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Your requirements live in an EHS Coordinator’s head.
Many companies are lucky enough to have an experienced EHS Coordinator; someone with years of industry experience who knows a facility’s environmental requirements like the back of his or her hand. This person automatically takes care of things like air permit reporting and air permit renewals. In fact, it can feel like your EHS program runs itself.
Except if this person ever left, you’d be scrambling to capture all that institutional knowledge before it walked out the door. Adopting an EHS software program allows you to capture and track each and every requirement—for a single site or multiple facilities—all in one place. You’ll create a shared, centralized knowledge base for now and the future.
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You’ve documented requirements, but they’re scattered, neglected or both.
You’re a step ahead of some industry peers and have your EHS requirements documented, except they’re all scattered among different people and places. Air requirements are in your file cabinet. Bob back in shipping has the waste requirements. Or maybe you’ve pulled everything together in one Excel spreadsheet, but it’s not easily accessible. It’s out of sight and out of mind.
Investing in EHS software brings all your requirements together in a centralized place. You’ll be able to share the information with who you choose and track what needs to happen on a master calendar with automatic reminders and check-ins. You’ll no longer have to remember to schedule that annual hazardous waste training. The best EHS software can remember for you and give you a gentle nudge to make it happen.
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You’re struggling to keep up with what’s happening at remote facilities.
You’re responsible for staying on top of compliance at several different facilities. Maybe you’re passing down new regulations and assuming no news is good news. Or perhaps you’re spending time on a monthly or quarterly call to ask: How’s it going? Did all the inspections get done? But there’s no process or paper trail to actually track audits, actions and task completion.
Implementing EHS software gives you the chance to create a higher level of accountability. You’ll clearly define roles and responsibilities for every task in your EHS plan and individual employees will know exactly what to do when. The right software will even prompt them to complete tasks and ask them to check things off when they’re done. You’ll have insight into exactly what’s happening—or not happening—at each and every facility.
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You spend a lot of time trying to generate reports in Excel spreadsheets.
Your monthly or quarterly to-do list includes reporting up to corporate on EHS compliance. Each time you find yourself scrambling for data to show that tasks were completed on time, workers completed training, and there were no notices of violation. You’re gathering key performance indicator data from multiple sources and rolling it all up into an Excel spreadsheet.
What if this whole process could be automated? EHS software streamlines the reporting process because it’s tracking what happens on a continuous basis; you can create a report with a few clicks. It could help you benchmark performance with at-a-glance metrics and customizable reports. Imagine turning an hours-long task into one that takes minutes.
Do any of these signs sound familiar? If so, it’s probably time to start researching an investment in EHS software. We’d love to give you a free demo of PlanTRAK to show you an online EHS management tool that isn’t overpriced or difficult to use.