Have an environmental health and safety consultant? Tips for success.
Some businesses choose to hire an outside entity or consultant to assist with environmental health and safety duties. Below are some tips for success when working with a consultant on hazardous waste licensing and regulations.
Make sure everyone is on the same page.
Discuss how hazardous waste responsibilities will be delegated. Some consultants might help with waste evaluations or trainings, filling out Ramsey County’s hazardous waste annual report, tracking disposal documentation, conducting periodic self-assessments, exploring pollution prevention opportunities, and more.
Encourage frequent and open communication.
If needed, connect your consultant to your assigned hazardous waste inspector as soon as possible. Establish who should be included in conversations about topics like inspection outcomes, potential complaints, licensing information, etc. Encourage questions in both directions and consider regular check-ins to help both parties stay updated. Finally, consider establishing a file-sharing system for inspection reports, annual reports, licenses, disposal documentation, etc. that both parties can easily access.
Get them the right information.
Help your consultant stay updated (and vice versa). Encourage them to take a Ramsey County-sponsored hazardous waste training, sign up for the Haz Waste Quarterly newsletter, and forward them any county communications they should know about. Make sure they (and you) are aware of county and state hazardous waste regulations as well as the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency fact sheets.
Build redundancy.
Remember, generators are ultimately responsible for their hazardous waste. Therefore, make sure at least one person or unit in your business is aware of hazardous waste responsibilities, details, documentation, etc. that your consultant might primarily be responsible for. If your consultant is doing something for your business, make sure you have adequate knowledge of where to find that information and/or how the task is carried out.
Don’t have an environmental health and safety consultant?
Consider applying the tips above internally at your business, especially if one person is assigned hazardous waste duties. Establishing roles, redundancy, open communication, and proper information sharing can save many regulatory headaches in the future.
Local environmental health consultant, Jennefer K, contributed to this article.