Going to Jail

My title is a bit of drama.  The truth as long as you and your company are doing the basic things of doing what is right no one is going to jail for accidential contamination.  Now for the rest of you out there jail time is coming your way sooner than you think.  Sure right now a lot of companies are getting away with all sorts of intentional dumping, especially in the un/under developed countries; along with paying off the right people to look the other way.

I know there are strategies that businesses use to keep their owners/board members protected.  Such as hiding behind a Environmental (or EHS) manager.  Giving these positions the outward impression of having decision making authority.  So that if the hammer ever were to fall these folks would be taking the majority of the beat down.  Think pawn; expendable.

Or there is the strategy of documentation without documenting anything.  Very clever move.  The impression that all looks good.  And again with the support of local politicans it is easy to look good to the world.

There are environmental laws in alot of countries that do not respect the corporate veil of protection.  In fact they use the veil to identify these responsible parties.  The worse part is that these laws do not allow the violation fines to be tax deductable; tsk tsk

I am sure the smart business people (including the sales staff) have accountants making the decisions of what to do to prevent spills (training and equipment), as well as how to handle the spills when one occurs (clean up).  Unless you have a BP level incident little public involvement allows for a lot of mess to go unaddressed. 

But there are companies that see the world through different eyes.  The eyes of a responsible corporate citizen.  Seeing the good of long term business, and know that having a good name is as valuable a asset as a piece of machinery.  These are the companies that will weather the economic tidal troughs and surges. 

Site Cleanup

I have found it interesting to see how similar the world is getting. We are all quickly moving towards the middle in all facets of life. Environmental is no different. As the developing nations develop they want to be respected in all areas including environmental. It does not hurt that the World Bank requires that any project they loan money for must comply with their environmental guidelines; similar to EU or USA standards.

What I try to convey to people is that most all countries on the planet have environmental regulations, but what separates them is enforcement. Some countries strictly enforce, while others selectively enforce. It is the selective enforcement that gets most companies. It is common for US companies to be highly regulated by a country, while local businesses go unchallenged. The US company managers ignore the regulations and end up paying in the end to keep it quiet.

Be aware that these country laws can give the regulating agency a lot of latitude to pierce the corporate veil and can issue criminal as well as civil violations.

Site cleanup is not difficult in these countries as the local regulator typically does not use the comical EPA standard of clean. As long as you can show that you have returned the site to at least the condition you found it in then you should be good to go. It is always best to do your homework in advance, ignore whatever the commercial people say. A baseline assessment will go a long way to allowing you to sleep well at night.

Japan

Following the horrific events that occurred earlier this year (2011) in Japan there has been a wave of support from across the globe.  Currently I can be counted as one of those contributing in a small way towards this effort.

Emergency situations, such as those in Japan or even following the tornados in the Southern USA, cause great distruction to the infastructure as well as to people.  Most companies are under the false impression that because there is an emergency situation EHS rules/laws are suspended.  What they do not understand is that safety and health can never be suspended, no matter the situation.  A emergency is no reason to believe that managing impacts to the environment somehow is of no concern.   Dumping methyl ethyl death will never be tolerated no matter the situation. 

Environmental rules and regulations are in place to protect human safety and health, as well as the bugs and bunnies.  The management of hazardous materials and wastes are never relaxed due to some outside situation.  In fact, because of the emergency situation following these rules are even more important to avoid making the situation even worse.

Take for granted

It is unfortunate that many people think that because they set up shop in a under developed country that they do not have to comply with environmental regulations. The assumption is that these backwater countries don't care or are ignorant. The truth is farther from this notion. The fact is these places care but do not have the means of enforcing regulations.

Businesses, west or east (China is no exception) take advantage of these situations. Short term profits are the motivation, never is it for the betterment of that country.

This is why a compassionate capitalist company should look at long term profit potential. Doing the right things does not need to kill the profit margin if executed correctly with advanced forethought and planning.

That seems to be the biggest stumbling block for most companies is the inability to plan for environmental aspects of their operations. It is frequently a afterthought and as such receives little attention. The EHS manager spends their time on the HS and little on the E. It is a rarity that you will find a proper environmental or health and safety program, it is normally HS.

The company management then spends little, and listens less especially when they believe there is no regulatory requirement. To them this is license to do as they please and drive the bottom line. Never mind about opportunities tomorrow.