b'30 Recycling Industry MattersSAFETY & COMPLIANCE ROIThe importance of SAFETY AND COMPLIANCE and its Return On InvestmentBy Marty Hollingshead of harms way. He knows that processesand he takes his time to do the job R OI: Realizingevolve and he makes changes as neededproperly. He is aware of current to improve his processes. He also keepsenvironmental regulations and does his Organizationalhis employees trained on newer andbest to be compliant with them. He does Importancebetter methods to do their job safely andregular inspections to make sure that I want to talk about the importancemore efficiently.everything is by the book. of safety and compliance and its returnRecycler B does not believe that on investment, as well as the cost andbeing environmentally compliant is potential liabilities. Lets start off withThe responsible andimportant. Again, this requires three the question of what exactly doescompliant operatorsthings that he does not like to give: time, compliance mean for the Automotiveare always the mostwork and money. His approach is to Recycler? For this article, we will talkprofitable. manage by crisis. about two main areas of compliance, theRecycler A enjoys peace of mind in first being safety, and the second beingknowing that he is doing things right. He environmental.Recycler B does just the opposite ofdoes not have to sweat getting a visit by Recycler A. He is not concerned aboutregulators, whether it is the EPA, Compliance: Cost and Benefits operating in a safe and compliantOSHA, law enforcement, or even the So, what does compliance mean formanner. His process consists of the flyusual insurance inspection. the Automotive Recycler? What are theby the seat of your pants approach, andWe have all visited other recyclers costs and benefits?he basically goes from one crisis toand we have seen the good, the bad and I will use two examples here. Weanother. He feels that doing thingsthe ugly. One thing is for sure, we will call them Recycler A andproperly is too much work, and costs tooalways learn something from these Recycler B.much money. He has a hard time hiringvisits. From Recycler A, we learn new and retaining good employees, and,and better ways to improve our business. Safety because of his actions, he has a hardWith Recycler B, we learn what not to Recycler A realizes the importancetime making ends meet.do. of operating in a safe manner. He has processes and rules in place and givesEnvironmental Therefore.his employees the training, tools, andRecycler A also realizes theSo, what do these examples mean resources needed to do their job safelyimportance of being environmentallyfor the rest of us? Yes, doing all of these and properly. He is aware of all of thecompliant and does this using the bestthings does require a commitment of hazards that are always present in hismanagement practices. He also keeps histime, work and money. The smart business and has taken a proactivebusiness clean, neat and organized. Heapproach here is to think of this as an approach to avoid these hazards, anddoes a good job of removing fluids,investment in your business. You only keep his employees and his business outbatteries, and freon from the vehicles,get out of something what you put into'