Audit, Compliance and Risk Blog

Environment, Health & Safety (EHS) functions are too often viewed as cost centers, and, as a result, are among the first areas scrutinized when organizations seek to reduce expenses. In today’s climate of economic uncertainty, many EHS leaders are being asked to re-examine already lean budgets and identify potential cuts. It is a difficult mandate.

Increasingly, EHS regulatory compliance content is among the first items considered for reduction. Before making that decision, however, it is critical to examine the forces driving this impulse and the broader implications for the organization. What appears to be a short-term saving can ultimately generate far greater costs in reputation, risk exposure, and financial performance.

 

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Tags: EHS, workplace safety, OHS, EHSCompliance, Risk Management, Safety Audits, Contractor Safety, EHS Compliance, Prequalification

Effective October 1, 2025, Quebec has extended the reach of occupational health and safety (OH&S) “prevention plan” requirements to additional employers, by granting assent (effectiveness) to the last provisions of 2021’s “Act to modernize the occupational health and safety regime (Bill 59)” by amending the “Act respecting occupational health and safety” (OHS Act) and a related Occupational Health and Safety Commission (CNNEST) regulation (Regulation respecting prevention and participation mechanisms in an establishment). 

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Tags: EHS, workplace safety, EHSCompliance, Occupational Health, Risk Management, EHS Compliance, Quebec Regulations, Occupational Health and Safety, Prevention Programs

When managing contractor safety, many hiring clients focus heavily on pre-qualification — confirming that a contractor has the right certifications, training, insurance, and safety programs in place. But pre-qualification is only the starting point. Once you’ve selected a contractor, the real work begins: onboarding, oversight and, in many cases, auditing.

 

Auditing your contractors can be one of the most effective ways to protect your people, manage liability, and ensure that safety commitments on paper are translating into real action on-site.

Here’s how to think about contractor selection, onboarding, and safety audits in a way that supports your organization without overstepping boundaries.

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Tags: EHS, workplace safety, OHS, EHSCompliance, Risk Management, Safety Audits, Contractor Safety, EHS Compliance, Prequalification

The US federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has reported a list of the top 10 most frequently cited standards following inspections of worksites by federal OSHA for all industries, during federal Fiscal Year (FY 2024). The remainder of this note provides OSHA’s list, with links to the standards (i.e., general industry standards) I’ve written about in other notes.

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Tags: OSHA, Safety and Health at Work, EHSCompliance, Safety Regulations, Worker Safety, Regulatory Compliance, Health and Safety, Fall Prevention, Safety Training

The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) has issued Excess Soil Reuse Guidance, with individual elements and an over-arching framework that jurisdictions can consider (and perhaps adopt, as published or with local variations) when establishing their own excess soil reuse regimes, and for landowners and consultants to consider when designing and implementing construction and remediation projects that generate excess soil. The remainder of this note summarizes this 51 page guidance document. 

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Tags: Environmental, EHS, sustainability, EnviromentalCompliance, EHSCompliance, Sustainability Strategy, Excessive Soil, Soil Reuse, CCME, Environmental Management

Many regulatory laws provide for civil – and sometimes even criminal – penalties for noncompliance. Statutes set penalty levels (“XXX dollars per day of violation” for example), at levels intended to provide meaningful deterrence and punishment for noncompliance. But over time, these penalties' stings decline with inflation. To counteract the possibility that less painful penalties reduce incentives for compliance, U.S. law directs most federal agencies to make annual “cost of living” adjustments to the maximum statutory civil penalty levels (there are no provisions for standing periodic adjustments to criminal penalties). 

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Tags: OSHA, EPA, regulatory registers, RegulatoryUpdates, EnviromentalCompliance, EHSCompliance