Safety training and environmental consultants provide a number of important services for today's businesses and industries. The environmental consulting field is judged to be among the fastest growing industries in the world. The increased need for training in equipment safety and environmental safety has spurred the growth of an entire industry segment that was practically non-existent just a decade or so ago. But what exactly do safety training and environmental consultants do?
Safety Training
Workplace accidents account for billions of dollars in lost productivity each year, especially when you include the effects of accidental releases of hazardous wastes into the environment. OSHA has safety training requirements for nearly every industry, with standards that include the amount and type of training needed by employees who work with hazardous wastes and those who might be called upon to respond in the event of a toxic spill.
The required training includes various specialty training, including HAZWOPER training, SafeLand training for those involved in the oil and gas industries and basic equipment safety training for workers who use various types of equipment.
Environmental Consulting
Environmental consultants provide a wide range of services, including assistance with creating environmental policies, developing energy reduction plans and developing plans for dealing with the cleanup and restoration of contaminated lands and workplaces. A business may hire environmental consultants to address a wide range of issues facing their businesses. They may focus on risk assessment, management of contaminated land or water, restoration services or environmental assessment and management.
Depending on the needs of their clients, safety training & environmental consultants may conduct background research, engage and/or train restoration contractors, collect and analyze data, meet with clients and write reports. They may develop and implement safety training programs, particularly those for employees dealing with environmental cleanup and hazardous waste management, and help companies ensure that their policies and activities meet all required legal standards.
Meeting Legal Requirements for Safety Standards and Hazardous Waste Management
Any industry that uses, stores or disposes of hazardous chemicals and wastes must meet specific OSHA regulations that include specific training for employees who may come in contact with those substances during the course of their work. For many industries, handling of these hazards is routine and has been for decades. The substances included under the heading of "hazardous" include gasoline and oil, cleaning products, manufacturing chemicals and asbestos. A spill of these chemicals and products can contaminate the workplace and the environment around it for years if it is not properly contained and cleaned up.
Individual companies who don't adhere to the OSHA regulations can face massive fines of up to $70,000 per willful incident, as well as having to foot the bill for cleanup and environmental restoration. Safety training and environmental consultants help companies meet or exceed the requirements in a wide variety of ways.
While it may cost a considerable amount of money to hire safety training and environmental consultants to oversee the training and/or implementation of an environmental policy, the money is quickly offset by the legal and productivity costs avoided by having these plans in place.
Author Resource:
Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the world's MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web.
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