“There has been a shift toward electronic reporting that will help make environmental reporting much more complete, accurate and efficient while at the same time helping EPA and co-regulators better manage the data, and improve effectiveness and transparency.” – The Environmental Protection Agency.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is constantly looking for ways to improve and come up with realistic approaches that help solve today’s pollution challenges. Last year they developed a more modern approach to environmental compliance, than what was standard in years gone, by taking advantage of new tools and approaches while strengthening vigorous enforcement requirements concerning environmental laws. This effort has been tapped ‘Next Generation Compliance‘ and according to the EPA, the organization has been working with the experts from both inside and outside the EPA, formulating an integrated strategy to accomplish their goals.

Five Components of the Next Generation Compliance (2014-2017)

Each of the components have been designed to improve the effectiveness of the EPA’s compliance program and include:

1. More Effective Regulations and Permits: With a goal of improved compliance and environmental outcomes, the EPA’s overall design regulations and permits are now easier to implement.
2. Advanced Monitoring: The latest emissions and pollutant detection technology is now being used so that regulated entities, the government, and the public can more easily see pollutant discharges, environmental conditions, as well as noncompliance.
3. Electronic Reporting: There has been a shift toward electronic reporting that will help make environmental reporting much more complete, accurate and efficient while at the same time helping EPA and co-regulators better manage the data, and improve effectiveness and transparency and accessible to the public.
4. Expanded Transparency: Making the today’s information  more accessible, and making new information obtained from advanced monitoring and electronic reporting publicly available.
5. Innovative Enforcement: New approaches are also now being developed (e.g., data analytics and targeting) all of which will help achieve more widespread compliance.

Just as the EPA is working to make it easier for businesses to remain compliant, companies like ProComplianceWare are developing products that will help make it easier for smaller organizations from all different industries remain in compliance that will protect companies. from the ever- expanding government regulations of the environment, health, safety, and security (EHSS).

ProComplianceWare helps companies manage regulatory compliance, which will help reduce the risk of penalties and also the financial burden of fines when a company is in non-compliance. PCW’s regulatory compliance software tracks requirements and manages documents in one secure online location, improving record keeping and adherence to Federal and state regulated permits.

Today, sustainable regulatory compliance practices are essential in our effort to survive and grow in the global business environment. If a company is negligent and not in compliance with EHSS regulations, serious company reputation issues, and financial problems can follow, and in some states, regulators actually require the implementation of electronic reporting systems. PCW integrates with these systems to make it really easy for compliance managers to remain in compliance.

The easy-to-use cloud-based system helps organize regulatory reporting and permits, and delivers email notices for due dates, providing searchable document archives, and managing compliance training.

One PCW customer, Steve Burnette, vice president of St. Pierre Oil recently said, PCW helps me organize all regulatory reporting and permits, and delivers email notices for due dates, providing searchable document archives, and managing compliance training. St. Pierre is based in Woodbury, Connecticut.

Any facility that is regulated by the Federal or state agencies can use PCW, including: airports, automobile dealerships, chemical distributors, marinas, scrap yards, schools, universities, and other organizations of all sizes. PCW improves permit/report organization, compliance due date tracking, and provides a searchable document archive.

Ultimately, Next Generation Compliance is the EPA’s way of helping to increase compliance with environmental regulations via using advances in pollutant monitoring and information technology. This combined with focus on designing better permits and more effective regulations to help reduce pollution, will no doubt help move our world closer to better compliance, yielding many environmental benefits.

For more information or a personal demo of the PCW compliance management system, please email infor@ProComplianceWare.com, or call 1-800-832-8503.