Unfortunately, the typical way many think about the relationship between the government and industry is that regulators are unreasonable and out to get you… while the private sector is unwilling to follow regulations and will try to get away with anything they can.
The key to any successful relationship is communication. This goes for marriages, friendships… and even the working relationship between a client and their environmental consultant.
Supply chain. It’s been in the news, and not in a good way. It’s on everybody’s mind right now and has been for months and months. And it doesn’t seem to be getting better. The impact has been particularly acute in manufacturing plants and other facilities. They’re having problems finding spare parts and expendables to keep equipment running. Raw materials needed to make products are in short supply. And costs are going up for everything…an expense that is passed on to the consumer. Let’s look at some of the problems that exist due to supply chain issues and review what facilities are doing to address them.
I’ve seen it happen time and time again. Personnel at a facility, even those in leadership positions, get so used to the routine of their job that hazards and environmental issues related to the way people do their job that are obvious to an outsider are essentially invisible to them because they’ve become accustomed to the way things have always been. It’s a concept called familiarity blindness, and it can cause a facility to not only receive notices of violation…but can also create dangerous working conditions and result in accidents. Fortunately, there are easy ways to eliminate familiarity blindness and create a safe facility and proper work routines for everybody on site.
