Reliant EHS launches e-scrap industry focused compliance software

As a result of working in and observing compliance initiatives across the e-scrap and information technology asset disposition (ITAD) industry, Reliant EHS' co-founders say they identified an opportunity to better serve the needs of certified facilities and their environmental health and safety (EHS) staff, more effectively engaging employees in compliance initiatives and further reducing the environmental impact of operations.

Founded in 2019, Reliant EHS delivers compliance solutions in a web-based application that can be accessed from any device, the company says.  Reliant EHS is a configurable EHS regulatory compliance software solution that is designed to enable EHS managers to streamline their compliance processes and improves access to EHS resources for employees. 

Reliant EHS' founders have more than a decade of experience in EHS compliance, specifically in the e-scrap industry and more than 25 years of experience in application development and delivery of government, risk and compliance applications across various industries.

According to a news release from the company, the e-scrap industry is unique and passionate about environmental protection and activism at the highest levels, including founders, managers and EHS staff. However, with EHS managers spending an estimated 20 hours a week on administrative tasks, according to research from West Monroe, a business and technology consulting firm, it can be challenging to instill that passion throughout the company as it grows and matures. Companies have an opportunity to enable their EHS managers to create a purpose-driven culture that furthers the reach of the company's vision by reducing the administrative burden of compliance and allowing them to focus on empowering business growth, change and continuous improvement in a way that is accessible and engaging to their workforce, Reliant EHS says.

According to Reliant EHS, as an industry, e-scrap companies have made great strides in reducing the impact of end-of-life electronics on the environment. However, when it comes to compliance, an immense amount of unnecessary waste is generated because of administrative practices that require maintaining paper records and documentation. Many companies currently use a combination of paper records and/or general business applications that can lack the compliance-specific features needed to streamline recordkeeping and promote employee engagement, resulting in an increased administrative burden, the company says. These methods also are prone to errors and omissions because they lack guidance and validation for required information,. An estimated 90 percent of spreadsheets contain significant errors, according to research by Ray Panko, professor of IT management at the University of Hawaii.

In creating its solution, Reliant EHS says it was essential to look not only at what companies were required to do to comply with industry standards but also at how compliance activities were recorded, how documentation was maintained and made available to employees and what barriers existed to engage the entire workforce in creating a culture focused on environmental health and safety best practices. 

According to the company, Reliant EHS was created to make establishing and maintaining a best-in-class compliance program more accessible, easier to maintain and improve alignment with existing environmentally conscious practices for facilities in the recycling industry.  The resulting solution focuses on building processes that are efficient, simple, engaging and streamlined.

The top challenges reported managers and program directors—including establishing and maintaining  records of downstream vendor audits, tracking throughput, waste tracking, internal audits, safety data  sheets, monthly monitoring and EHS activities, controlling documents, demonstrating continuous improvement, ensuring accuracy and completeness of records and more—are addressed in Reliant EHS' offering for the industry. The company says its software offers support for all regulatory requirements and industry standards, including R2:2013, R2v3, RIOS, e-Stewards, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 and other regulations.