How Can Environmental Controls Also Benefit a Business?

A number of managers will believe that complying with environmental regulations and health and safety legislation will result in additional costs, time delays and generally be detrimental to the output and profit levels for the business. It is for this reason that many of those in charge will initially be reluctant to commit to environmental training or indeed any sort of health and safety training which is over and above the minimum required by law (and not be happy about having to do just this either!) In fact though, the reality is that training, development and controls often have the opposite effect in that it can prove highly beneficial for the business and pay for itself many times over in the long run.

Obviously one of the primary benefits is that complying with legislation and regulations will avoid the potential requirement for having to pay hefty fines, suffer temporary shutdowns whilst remedial action is taken, and have to deal with intrusive and disruptive inspections as a result of increased scrutiny by regulators which comes after an environmental breach or allegation of environmental malpractice. Environmental training and qualifications can pay for themselves many times over and in a particularly short period of time if it serves to avoid such situations from occurring in the first place through increased worker environmental awareness and understanding.

Along with avoiding negative consequences such as the fines and loss of production described in the paragraph above, strong environmental controls and procedures can provide benefits to the business through reducing waste and utilising resources more efficiently. This will bring down costs and raise profit margins, again in all likelihood covering the cost of the original training many times over.

Furthermore, corporations who are viewed as polluters of the environment, either by their actions over time or because of a catastrophe which causes a one-off yet devastating environmental disaster can have their reputation and brand image seriously damaged, sometimes beyond repair. This can drastically reduce sales revenue as consumers shun or boycott their products in anger over their impact upon the environment.

So rather than being an irritant and a costly waste of time, environmental training and the introduction of controls and procedures are in fact a tremendous investment not only for the benefit of the planet and local wildlife, but also with regards to the finances of the company in terms of its future profitability and sales revenue.