How can you monitor HSE regulations effectively and ensure compliance?

Faced with the multitude of regulatory texts and requirements applicable in every sector of activity, the HSE regulatory monitoring process cannot be taken lightly: rigour, method and expertise are required.

However, despite its essential nature, it is not always systematically applied in organisations, due to a lack of time, resources, tools or knowledge.

As the manager of a site, an industrial group or an HSE function within your company (health and safety manager, environmental manager, HSE coordinator, etc.), you understand the importance of this approach.

How do you set up an HSE regulatory watch and define effective action plans to manage your compliance? Here's a complete guide on the subject!

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What is the purpose of regulatory monitoring?

HSE regulatory monitoring consists of an organised and formalised approach within a company, with the aim of :

• detect
• analyse
• detect, analyse and make use of information relating to the regulations applicable to its operations.

It therefore enables any organisation to be aware of its obligations, in order to organise and monitor the compliance of :

• its activities
• its equipment
• its infrastructures
• its processes.

In particular, it serves to limit the risks of non-compliance, with positive repercussions such as :

• reducing certain costs (fines or failure to pay compensation in the event of an accident or claim, for example),
• sound management of labour relations,
• control of the workplace accident rate,
• maintaining productivity, etc.

☝️ This monitoring activity is even becoming a necessity for all companies with ISO 14001, ISO 50001, OHSAS 18001 or ISO 45001 certified management systems. It is imperative that they keep abreast of regulatory developments.

6 steps to effective regulatory monitoring

Step 1: Define your monitoring methodology

You can organise your monitoring activity by adopting project mode. By allocating time, objectives, resources and the people responsible for the process, you can guarantee its effectiveness.

Start by framing your project:

• identify your objectives: what do you expect from the monitoring procedure? Identifying precise operational results will optimise the time you devote to it;
  
  
• Set aside time to set it up: to roll out your monitoring activity and ensure it exists as such, allocate time to it formally in the schedules;
  
  
• Designate a project manager: define the role of the regulatory watch manager and the other players involved in the project, both internal and external (management, staff representatives, local authorities, shareholders, etc.);
  
  
• define the scope of your monitoring:
  • What information are you looking for?
  • In what form or format will it be produced?
  • According to what criteria? (How often will the database be updated, how will it be used to assess compliance, etc.);
    
    
• determine the resources to be put in place: in addition to human and financial resources, what resources are required: tools, training, budget, etc.?

💡 Whether you choose to run your monitoring project in-house or outsource it, you can detail all the expectations associated with the project in a clear, precise set of specifications. This way, the process will meet the organisation's needs and everyone involved will be able to refer to it.

Step 2: Identify reliable and relevant sources

Depending on your industry or field of activity, sort through all the existing sources of information to select only the most relevant.

To do this, list all the regulations and texts applicable to the activities of your site or industrial group in terms of HSE compliance.

When making your selection, give priority to regulatory sources (legal texts, ministerial decrees, etc.) rather than popularised content, which is more accessible but often simplified. This type of source may make it easier to understand and summarise the requirements, but the official text must take precedence.

Finally, focus your monitoring on the regulatory requirements applicable to your company's activity.

Step 3: Draw up your regulatory reference framework

Once you have identified the sources, you can build up your regulatory repository, in order to structure your collection of information. This is a register or document base containing all the regulatory obligations applicable to your organisation and its specific features:

• sector of activity
• number of employees
• legal status
• ICPE classification, etc.

To guide your research work and classify the information, you can create a logical tree structure, using themes specific to your organisation, then subdivide into sub-directories.

List all the applicable texts and make sure you associate them with key information such as :

• their type
• title
• date created/updated
• the source from which they come, etc.

💡 It will also be important to identify which medium to use (table, project/task management software, etc.) for a practical repository that is useful to everyone and easy to update.

Step 4: Process and analyse the HSE information

Once all the information has been collected, centralised and classified, the aim is to process it so that it can be used for the company's needs.

This requires an in-depth analysis of the regulatory texts, which sometimes requires legal or technical skills that are not always available within the company's HSE function.

You will then need to identify experts capable of scrupulously analysing each document, cross-referencing information and making it comprehensible to all the relevant people in the company.

💡 You might also consider using a dedicated tool for this tedious and complex stage, especially if you don't have all the specific skills in a technical area, nor sufficient legal background. We'll come back to this question of specialised software later in the article.

Step 5: Share your intelligence content

The results and deliverables of your regulatory watch must be disseminated to all the relevant people in the company whose activities are directly affected:

• put in place a strategy and means of communication for this dissemination (email, thematic feed on the intranet, project management software or collaborative platform, etc.);
  
  
• disclose all relevant information: reference texts, but also their interpretation by experts, recommendations, as well as the expected deadline;
  
  
• provide references or additional documentation to support the implementation of new regulations.

Step 6: Prepare the HSE compliance assessment

HSE regulatory monitoring is also a preparatory stage for the compliance assessment. Continuous and rigorous observation of the technical and legal standards landscape enables you to compare theoretical requirements with the way they are applied in practice in your organisation.

The monitoring activity must make the information gathered usable in order to:

• anticipate regulatory changes in order to prepare for compliance, if necessary ;
  
  
• measure the company's compliance rate by checking that processes, infrastructures, equipment, etc. comply with the regulatory framework;
  
  
• Demonstrate ongoing compliance operations, in the event of an inspection, and draw up an action plan for each non-compliance identified.

What tools can you use to simplify your HSE regulatory monitoring?

As you will have realised, managing HSE regulatory monitoring is crucial for any company wishing to comply with the law and protect its employees. However, this work quickly proves to be an arduous and time-consuming task, requiring rigorous organisation.

In this context, digital technologies, particularly specialised software, offer multiple advantages.

The publishers of these solutions already incorporate this monitoring work, to keep them up to date with changes in regulations. What's more, these tools make it possible to centralise information (your reference systems, your single document, etc.), making it more accessible and manageable. Finally, good QHSE software includes dynamic dashboards providing up-to-date data on the situation of the organisation and the actions taken to bring it into compliance.

So you can save time and improve the accuracy of your HSE monitoring work!

⚒️ Examples of tools:

• Previsoft is a powerful, collaborative online software package dedicated to managing health and safety at work. Previsoft's consultants are constantly monitoring the regulatory environment to provide you with the best possible support for your QHSE policy and ensure that the solution remains compliant. In terms of functionalities, the platform helps you to assess risks, edit your DUERP, and then deploy the necessary actions to reduce them, in accordance with the regulations in your sector.

• Red-on-line is a comprehensive, flexible solution that includes tailored content and personalised services to facilitate your HSE regulatory monitoring. In particular, you can take advantage of exhaustive regulatory repositories tailored to each of your operational sites, the support of HSE legal experts based around the world, and tools to better manage your compliance processes.

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Final tips to ensure your HSE regulatory compliance

To conclude, here are a few best practices to apply to make the most of your regulatory watch:

• keep the database up to date: set up monitoring and alerts for the texts in your document pool, so that you can stay up to date and regularly reassess your level of compliance;
  
  
• define indicators to measure both the state of your monitoring and the progress of your action plan, assessing the impact of your corrective actions and adjusting them if necessary;
  
  
• prioritise the requirements and associated risks for any non-compliance, so you can prioritise your actions more effectively;
  
  
• capitalise on collaborative work: collect feedback on the implementation of the approach so that you can always put its effectiveness and added value into perspective. You are part of a continuous improvement process, optimising the overall process so that everyone wins.