Introduction To Environmental Safety

What is environmental safety?

Believe it or not, it’s one of the most vital areas of health and safety practices.
However, the term “environmental” can imply that somehow it only takes place
outdoors, which is far from the case.

The most common definition of environmental safety is practices, policies, and

procedures that ensure the safety and well-being of anyone in the immediate area.
This can include safety in terms of proper waste disposal, containment and storage
of potentially toxic chemicals and much more.

Three Primary Areas of Environmental Safety

Though “environmental safety” is a rather nebulous term, there are three primary
areas where environmental safety is of particular concern. They are:

 Occupational safety and health

 Environmental control
 Chemical safety

Each of these areas is a discipline unto its own when it comes to environmental
safety, but these are the areas that environmental safety is primarily focused on.

Occupational safety and health practices are focused on environmental safety in the

workplace, thereby reducing risks to employees in any given workplace. After all,
many workplaces have dangerous chemicals, gases/fumes, waste and other
potential threats to the health and safety of workers.

Environmental control, naturally, is concerned with preventing pollution and other

threats to the environment and anyone that may be affected by it. For instance,
preventing dumping of chemicals into the local ecosystem or ensuring proper
management of waste materials.
Chemical safety, concerns the safe storage, use, disposal and so on of various
chemicals.

Each of these areas is governed by laws at the municipal, state and federal level,
and compliance with those regulations is of vital importance to many businesses.

Importance Of Environmental Safety

Though environmental safety certainly makes demands of businesses in terms of
costs of compliance, the reality is that doing so is imperative. There are regulatory
consequences of noncompliance and negligence, liabilities in civil suits as well as
potential moral hazards in not observing environmental safety practices.

For instance, look up a listing of the nation’s SUPERFUND sites. Nearly all of these
areas require extensive cleanup and rehabilitation, which is paid for by the taxpayers.
Many of them exist due to negligence or malfeasance in the environmental safety
practices on the part of various corporations.

Some of the worst man-made disasters were caused by inadequate environmental

safety measures and lawsuits are filed all the time by injured workers or the estates
of workers, residents near industrial operations and by regulatory authorities when
companies fail to observe proper environmental safety.

Not only do businesses and organizations have a legal obligation to observe

environmental safety practices, they also have an interest in doing so to avoid
liabilities as well as a moral obligation.

Observing Environmental Safety Is A must

Environmental safety, just like any other form of safety or compliance, requires
being observant and compliant at all times to ensure the safety of your workers
and anyone that resides in the area. Doing so minimizes liabilities and protects one
of your most valuable assets – your employees.
However, observing environmental safety is typically easy in that doing so requires
the observation of certain practices and procedures. Once those policies and
procedures are implemented, adhering to them becomes a matter of habit, just as
it is in compliance with any regulation or industry best practices.

The practical upshot, of course, is a cleaner, safer workplace, goodwill in the local
community and keeping on the good side of regulators, employees and much
more.