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FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN
A review of archived CTI newletters indicates many compliance-related
topics: highlights of EPA and OSHA inspections, findings, and penalties;
self-conducted audit tools to get a baseline on current compliance;
employee training requirements; and information regarding new
regulations and how to work them into your current operations. However,
companies throughout Ohio continue to run afoul of compliance
regulations in spite of all of the informational help that exists “out
there”. In this article, let’s attack the non-compliance problem from
another direction - the fear of the unknown.
Fear of the unknown can keep one from taking direct action on a problem
at one time or another. Using several analogies, what is that noise
under the hood of my car? If I go to the doctor about this headache, is
he going to tell me something unpleasant? If I call a professional for
my taxes, will they do a good job or overcharge me? Of course, there
are numerous possible answers to the questions in these scenarios. We
are going to ask you to relate these questions to environmental, health,
and safety issues and focus on only two answers to these questions: the
best and worst cases.
That noise from under the hood of your car is usually a warning that
something is not working properly. This is the time to pull over, take a
look, identify the cause, and gauge what can be done that will get your
vehicle back into a safe, reliable condition. Maybe you can fix it
yourself, or perhaps the problem requires a trip to a garage. Using
another example, you have been getting terrible headaches for the last
few weeks. You should not delay nor diagnose this problem on your own;
this is the time to go to the doctor and determine the cause of the
headaches before they begin to interfere with your daily activities or
worse.
In either example, direct action on your part is certainly necessary.
Ignoring either problem may have serious consequences. If you choose the
“It will go away” or “What I don’t know won’t hurt me” approaches to
these situations, the result could be dramatically bad. With the car, it
might be a costly engine replacement instead of only the cost of a few
quarts of oil or a belt replacement. The headaches could have been a
warning of high blood pressure or maybe just an outdated eye
prescription. The key is taking action to determine the level of the
problem in order that a plan of action can be prepared and begun.
Moving our discussion to the EH&S world, perhaps a regulation is changed
which you think affects your personnel exposure limits or hazardous
material transportation. The question that is posed for you today is
“What keeps you from determining if you have a problem or not, and then
moving forward in adjusting your EH&S programs?”. Is inaction based in
not understanding the regulation and not understanding what actually
changes for your company? Is there a financial issue in that your
company does not have a budget established or that you have no idea at
all about the cost of the changes necessary to adjust your program?
Perhaps the problem lies in approaching management in order to discuss
the problems that you have identified.
Compliance Technologies, Inc. (CTI) can help you deal with any of these
issues and more. Our team of experienced professionals can
confidentially discuss with you what is needed to keep you in
compliance. A brief meeting with a CTI representative costs nothing and
can provide you with a qualified opinion about how you need to proceed.
What is needed may be as simple as doing some sampling or some employee
training, or it may be that a program overhaul is in order. It may be
that your position requires a yearlong plan be effected to gain full
compliance. At the least, you must have a plan of action in place, and
remember, some action is better than no action. To recall the auto
analogy, if you provide a repair, you no longer will be driving down the
highway hoping not to have a major, costly breakdown.
It may be hard to imagine, but there is a benefit in hiring a
professional, insured, EH&S consultant to remove the fear of the
unknown. Let us show you how it works.
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