The main function of having an EHS software in your company is to help you comply with the Environment, Health, and Safety rules and regulations set up by the government. In this article, we discuss the types of EHS software, its features and functions and other factors to consider.
Kinds of EHS Software
There are many different kinds of EHS software in the market. Some are geared towards specific purposes, and some are all-in-one solutions. Here listed are some of the kinds of EHS software being sold on the software market today:
1. Hazardous Inventory Management Software:
Most businesses involved with the production of chemicals that may be toxic to one’s health or dangerous to the environment would need a hazardous inventory management system.
Casual mixing and handling these types of substances can yield catastrophic results. Using this tool, a company can monitor when and how to dispose these chemicals, as well as ensure that the company is not breaking any environmental laws in concocting these chemicals.
2. EHS Management Software
Regulatory compliance institutions often require companies to submit to them timely updates regarding the status of their business.
A management software allows the company to simplify the organization and the collection of the information required for each report. Additionally, human error would be suppressed when generating these reports.
3. Regulatory Compliance Management Software
Probably the most common of all, regulatory compliance software is a specialized EHS software. It takes in, as input, the constant changes in the laws and advises the organization on how to modify their business to fit the changes.
It streamlines log reports and helps in collecting the required data and ultimately, avoid any possible sanctions that the government could hand out.
4. Waste Management Software
The main environmental concern of government agencies for businesses is how they take care of their waste. Using a waste management system allows a company to stay within the threshold of the allowable waste set by the government.
Having a centralized platform can help simplify an otherwise difficult job of monitoring waste disposed from multiple sites.
Features and Functionalities of EHS Software
How does an EHS software work? It is important to consider how an EHS software works when buying one. Apart from the general functions required, it is also important to note the difficulty of implementation, integration, and basically, learning the system.
Here are some of the features offered by common EHS software.
1. Health Monitoring
An EHS software can track a workplace’s industry hygiene. Using the government mandated standard as a measure, the software can warn the management if the current status is breaching state laws. This feature also ensures that the employees are healthy to cut the costs of absences.
2. Occupational Safety Management
This feature lets the business monitor, study, and avoid any accidents in the workplace. This ensures the safety and wellbeing of the employees. This tool can generate reports to facilitate programs to enhance safety awareness in the office.
3. Risk Management
This is probably the most sought after feature of the EHS software. Risk management means assessing the risks given by the current workplace situation and generating decision support system based suggestion on how to improve and optimize business operations without going over bounds on the state’s laws.
Having the risk assessed can help tremendously in deciding on the insurance plan that will be adapted for all employees.
4. Data Integrity Checker
Monitoring health and safety of employees, as well as determining the environmental impact of the day to day business operations requires the management of huge data.
EHS software have already predicted this and should be able to handle the huge data flow. Part of the benefit of having EHS software is not needing to do these complicated calculations by hand anymore and thus reducing the risk of errors.
Furthermore, good EHS software should also have the ability to self check. This means it should be able to identify invalid data entries and deal with them appropriately.
5. Planning Management
EHS software gives out forecasts and simulations for the future. This is a nifty tool when discussing projections and deciding on the managerial and financial aspects of the business.
More importantly, the safety team will also be able to formulate their set of rules and regulations that would adhere to the general health, safety and environmental vision set out by the company.
The EHS software records all the incidents that have happened in the past and intelligently gives out suggestions to prevent and correct previous actions.
How to pick an EHS software
When deciding to buy an EHS software, it is important to consider several factors. Even if you have fully understood the needs of your company and the specifics of what you are looking for in an EHS software, it is still important to take a step back and have a general picture of the market.
The first thing you should first consider is the range of the software’s features. It does not matter how good of a chemical management software it is if all you need is a simple workbook application.
Knowing what you need not only means looking for the exact features, but also the availability of the device. This is to ensure that the software can be implemented and integrated successfully in your current system.
An important factor to consider perhaps is the price. Prices of software vary widely depending on the supplier. The benefit of buying from an established software provider is that they will have consistent releases and be ready to support you given that they have a big team.
Smaller software companies can have the edge of working closely with you. They can taylor fit the system to your need and they cost much less. Another option is to have your own internal software team. In going this route, your expenses would be salaries. This is probably the most expensive option but the most flexible as well.
Lastly, it is important to take note of the scalability of the product. Most software bogs down at a certain level, be it the number of users, entries, or added features. This should be noted when choosing an EHS software.
