Regulations & Compliance

Here are 5 stories, with 5 lessons, that illustrate why chemicals in the workplace, no matter the size of the company or the number of employees, are serious business. As demonstrated below, how chemicals are used, stored, labeled, and disposed of, and how employees are trained on chemical hazards, affects workers, customers, and in some […]

Many clients have asked me for advice on how to improve user adoption – I propose however that it’s not user adoption they need, it’s engagement! There are multiple schools of thought on the difference between adoption and engagement, but for the purpose of this blog post, here’s my stance: Adoption – users have accepted […]

Methanol is a natural by-product of wood alcohol, natural gas and coal. It has also recently garnered attention for being used in biofuel. But don’t let the “green” of this chemical fool you. Methanol is very dangerous and can cause death when mishandled. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how to handle methanol in a […]

Where and How Sulfuric Acid Can Be Found Sulfuric acid is one of the most hazardous and common chemicals you may encounter. It’s actually an international commodity chemical produced in large quantities all around the world. While sulfuric acid has primarily industrial uses, it’s also found in common household products such as drain cleaner and […]

A certification provides official confirmation of specific characteristic(s) a person or company has achieved through an external assessment. Businesses conduct SOC 2 certification to ensure that the inner workings of an organization meet audit and compliance standards. As a follow up to our blog post on The Information Security Certification Challenge, VelocityEHS conducted our first annual SOC […]

by Jennie Gober, CPE If you’re an “Ergo Nerd” like myself and the rest of us here at VelocityEHS, you’ve probably noticed everyday items that are poorly designed.  (My colleagues Lauren and Christy recently posted about their own experiences with poorly designed bank drive-throughs and fuel gauges.)  I have a similar design pet peeve:  handles.  […]

Used many years ago in soaps, sodium hydroxide – also known as lye – is still a widely used chemical today. Its uses range from food processing to petroleum refining, but it can be a very dangerous chemical. Here we’ll examine its usual uses, and the specific properties that make sodium hydroxide a threat to […]

In 2012, I traveled to a remote community in the Buikwe District in Uganda, Africa to help build a sustainable clean water system for the maternity ward of the local hospital. This experience was absolutely amazing and rewarding! Since we had an abundance of volunteers, we were also able to repaint the interior offices and […]

Today sustainability is not just a buzzword. Captains of commerce, like Wal-Mart, Target, Virgin, and Apple are championing the drive to improve the chemical footprints of entire supply chains. In the past, the word “sustainability” conjured images of extreme environmentalism at the cost of all else; today it encompasses a wide-angled view of the relationships […]

This second post in a series on the NAEM Report, “Planning for a Sustainable Future,” focuses on the growing challenge of enforcing supply chain compliance in a tangled and constantly fluctuating regulatory environment. Supply chain compliance is an ever-evolving global issue. Unless all materials right down to chemical makeup or raw minerals are sourced locally, […]