Environmental, Health, & Safety (EH&S) Compliance Management Solution

Companies regulated by the EPA, OSHA and other federal, state and local agencies have to deal with EH&S process as part of their business operations. EH&S IT solution is key tool in dealing with EH&S reporting requirements. With changing regulatory requirements, organizations need solution which can support traditional EH&S requirements and emerging needs such as global warming, greenhouse gas reporting and carbon trading. Enterprises today are putting themselves at risk by not managing their EH&S portfolio and their EH&S data. They need to integrate their EH&S compliance and risk management activities in a single platform.

At MetricStream we challenge ourselves and our customers to adopt an approach to risk management that enables firms to utilize ERM in the broader context of Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Management: to mitigate risks and also revisit their business processes to capture value generating business opportunities.

Solution Overview
Companies around the world are taking Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives focusing on community and environmental issues as corporate priority. CSR initiatives are focused towards employees, customers, shareholders, community and the environment. CSR is emerging as a new trend in corporate governance, risk, and compliance initiatives.

Main Drivers for CSR Initiatives
Environment, Health and Safety (EH&S) Compliance: Organizations regulated by the EPA, OSHA and other federal, state and local agencies are facing challenges in managing number of regulations for Environment, Health and Safety (EH&S) issues Today, almost 90 percent of the surveyed global 500 companies rate EH&S issues among the top ten value drivers for their business.

A recent report by Forrester on the changing landscape for GRC professionals identifies mounting CSR pressures as a GRC driver. The following quote is from that report: “Businesses in many industries are struggling to identify how environmental and social changes will affect their sustainability. Equally important, businesses must understand and respond appropriately to what customers, employees, and business partners expect of them from an environmental, social, and governance perspective. GRC professionals need to keep up with their company’s CSR marketing and communication machines to make sure there are controls, assessments, and measurable data to back up any claims made to these stakeholders”

Environmental Regulations: Environmental regulations such as Clean Air Act and Kyoto protocol are forcing companies to measure and report Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and conduct sustainable business. Companies must be able to understand and manage their GHG risks if they have to ensure long-term success in a competitive business environment, and be prepared for future national or regional climate policies

Key Priorities in EH&S and Environmental Initiatives:

• Compliance with workplace safety standards such as OSHA 29 CFR, OHSAS 18001 to eliminate injuries and fatalities in the work environment
• Industrial emergency planning and response to incident related to hazardous material
• Manage initiatives to record and report greenhouse gases and other emissions.
• Develop capabilities for environmental reporting specific to region or country such as chemical safety report for REACH Act, Clean Air Act, Kyoto Protocol

Managing multiple regulations is a very resource intensive activity and has risk of penalties and fines for non-compliance. Organizations need to deploy enterprise wide EH&S solution to follow regulations. This helps in making workplace, environment and community a safe place.

Benefits of implementing EH&S system include: Improved environmental     performance Enhanced compliance Prevention of pollution/resource     conservation New customers / markets Increased efficiency / reduced     costs Employee awareness of     environment issues and     responsibilities Enhanced image with public,     regulators, lenders and investors Enhanced employee morale

MetricStream Environmental Health and Safety Solution
MetricStream’s environmental, health and safety software solution is a web-based compliance solution designed for ease of use and fast implementation. MetricStream solution is developed on Enterprise Compliance Platform which offers an integrated set of modules. Our platform approach enables EH&S compliance by driving a closed-loop process that radically reduces risk of safety incidents and environmental noncompliance.

Incident Management Module: Organizations need to report incidents, near miss and hazards to regulatory bodies such as OSHA and regional authorities. MetricStream’s Incident Management module offers capabilities to identify, analyze and report incidents. It can be deployed across enterprise to allow employees to record incidents in a central system. Incident information can be integrated with Corrective Action and Preventive Action (CAPA), Document Management System (DMS), Training and Risk Management to ensure closed loop follow process and corrective actions for eliminating risks. Reports can be generated to provide data for compliance with various Regulations.

Permit and Filing Tracking Module: Permit tracking system offers capabilities to maintain inventory of permits required by an organization as part of its regular business. MetricStream system can trigger alerts when permit is about to expire or expired. Timely alerts can help in avoiding serious non-compliance issues.

Key features of the MetricStream solution Flexibility Powerful Review Tools Automated Workflow A Virtual Workspace Well-Integrated Fully compliant Executive dashboards

Medical or Health Record Tracking Module: Health record tracking module allows organizations to comply with number of regulatory programs, including Respiratory Fit Test Exams, Hazardous Materials, Asbestos, Audiometric, and OSHA Injury-Illness activities. It works with other modules to track medical exams conducted by a company doctor, nurse, or an off-site physician or medical clinic. It allows the user to maintain medical records as required by various regulations, along with medical history or profile of each employee.

Material Safety Datasheet (MSDS) Module: Material safety data sheets (MSDSs) are used for tracking chemical and hazardous materials using a document and data management system. Compliance reports required by EPA and local agencies can be generated and submitted electronically. The MSDS module provides vital information for exposures and specific characteristics of the chemicals in a product or mixture.

Greenhouse Gas Inventory Tracking Module: Greenhouse Gas inventory module allows organizations to

• Collect and manage emission data in a centralized system
• Ensure quality controls and standards for GHG emissions such as ISO 14064-1
• Perform operational audits on emission inventory management program
• Leverage built-in workflow that allows information reporting for legal, regulatory requirements and key stakeholder requirements
• Integrate with risk management and policy management to minimize risks of non compliance with emission standards and use risk management as a strategic tool for the enterprise
• Integrate with occupation health and safety systems

Benefits Quick Implementation Seamless Integration User-friendly Built in reporting Robust Security

Next Steps for implementing EH&S Solution

• Define your organizational EH&S policy, objectives and targets
• Identify your EH&S hazards, risk, impact and legal obligation
• Define EH&S operational controls for Compliance and perform audits
• Manage EH&S awareness programs with training and best practices
• Manage all non conformances with Issue Tracking, CAPA and Change Control capabilities
• Measure and Monitor your EH&S performance