Dave Lubach: Environmental Issues Dominate Regulatory Compliance Concernstest

By Dave Lubach, Associate Editor

January 2015

Is your department staying abreast of changes in environmental regulations and standards that affect institutional and commercial facilities? If the answer is no, you're not alone.

We asked more than 500 maintenance and engineering managers for their thoughts on regulatory compliance standards and their impact on maintenance and engineering departments. One trend emerged: Regulations and standards keep changing, and many managers are struggling to keep up.

More than 37 percent of survey respondents said they see continuing changes regarding compliance issues related to the environment. Managers also said they need to improve their knowledge of environmental mandates.

Why increased interest in environmental issues? Among the responses:

"More and more information comes out every year on possible problems with products."

Environmental compliance "has been neglected for so long that we will be playing catch up."

"Very high priority with the public."

Negative publicity and monetary fines are important reasons to understand environmental compliance requirements, says Jeffery Camplin, president of Camplin Environmental Services, which provides safety and environmental consulting to facilities.

"If you have a chemical release and a worker is injured or even killed, you might get fined $20,000 by OSHA," Camplin says. "But polluting a stream or land, you're looking at a six- or seven-figure fine. Environmental regulations are staggering sometimes."

Where do you think that most managers say environmental issues rank on their priority list for regulatory compliance? The answers might surprise you. Visit www.facilitiesnet.com/fmd to find out and read complete survey results.

Dave Lubach offers insights gleaned from conversations with managers who make key maintenance and engineering decisions in commercial and institutional facilities.

Agree? Disagree? Have something to say? We want to hear from you. Visit myfacilitiesnet.com/davelubach, and start a conversation.