What is Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (EHS)?

Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (EHS) encompasses all aspects of workplace incidents, illnesses, injuries, exposures, and health and safety hazards. EHS includes the evaluation, development, implementation and maintenance of a system that controls the procurement, use, and disposal of hazardous materials to ensure adherence to regulations and the prevention of incidents. It also covers workplace safety training, research, and regulatory issues. The sources of workplace risk can be facility-related, employee-related, process-related, and materials-related.

Back to top

Why should companies be concerned with compliance and having safety programs?

Adhering to government regulations and agency guidelines is good business practice and minimizes the risk of heavy fines for non-compliance. Beyond that, research shows that companies spend billions per year on direct and indirect costs associated with workplace risk, which come directly out of corporate profits. Those costs include workman's compensation claims, lost employee time and productivity, higher insurance fees, site clean up, adverse corporate publicity, and law suits. In addition, safety programs prepare companies for the next phase of business growth, whether it's expansion, positioning to be acquired or purchased, or preparing for an IPO. In short, safety programs are proven to reduce costs and increase productivity, which positively impact profitability and put companies at a distinct competitive advantage.

Back to top

Why do companies need Safety Partners to help with their safety programs?

Both small and mid-sized companies have limited financial resources, yet are under considerable pressure to maintain a competitive scientific pace. Hiring employees to be responsible for companies' safety programs, or dividing program responsibilities among scientists or other employees - taking hours per week away from valuable scientific and business process responsibilities - aren't attractive options. There is simply too much to do with too few people. Safety Partners can efficiently develop, implement, and manage corporate safety programs rather than dilute the efforts of their staff. Clients appreciate that we provide customized safety programs that are no more or less than what they need.

Back to top

How is Safety Partners different from its competitors?

Safety Partners is the only EHS Consultant dedicated to minimizing workplace risk and increasing profitability solely for small and mid-size biotechnology companies. We are pioneers in EHS consulting, having been the first to serve as an outsourced Consulting Safety Officer for our clients. We offer a truly unrivaled combination of practical, custom, hands-on, performance-based occupational health and safety program consulting, development, management and implementation services that minimize the costs associated with workplace risk, while maximizing employee productivity and profitability.

Back to top

What does a Consulting Safety Officer do?

It is the responsibility of the Consulting Safety Officer to handle every facet of a client's workplace safety program. Each Consulting Safety Officer develops, implements, and manages performance-based safety programs and systems that cover all applicable safety areas, including biological, chemical, and radioactive materials, as well as emergency preparedness, ergonomics, and animal care, to minimize workplace accidents and injuries. The Consulting Safety Officer completes the permit and license applications for the storage, use, and disposal of hazardous material, manages regulatory communications, conducts job safety analyses, writes customized manuals, specifies the procurement, use, and disposal of hazardous materials, develops and runs training tailored for each client, conducts accident investigations, and performs safety inspections/audits. Our Consulting Safety Officers take a very hands-on approach, and do as little or as much as necessary from a safety perspective, including routine tasks for handling, pouring, and managing waste, ensuring appropriate safety supplies are stocked and placed strategically, providing routine weekly radiation program monitoring and documentation, and testing eyewash and safety shower stations.

In addition, we believe that communication regarding our clients' safety programs is critical at every level of their organizations. To that end, our Consulting Safety Officers maintain current, central, hard-copy and electronic safety files for every client. In addition, all of our Consulting Safety Officers are available through email and cellular phone when not on site so that critical safety questions can be answered promptly.

Back to top

Does the Safety Partners' Consulting Safety Officer work in client offices or off site?

Safety Partners' Consulting Safety Officers work at our clients' premises for a pre-determined number of hours per week or month. We are very visible, yet non-intrusive, integrating into our clients' staffs so that they feel comfortable with our presence and confident in our safety expertise.

Back to top

How much time does a client's personnel have to spend getting Safety Partners up to speed and working with them each week, and are their business processes disrupted while this takes place?

Since Safety Partners is focused solely on biotechnology firms, our highly qualified and experienced staff requires very little ramp-up time in new client companies, and requires no disruption in our clients' business processes and productivity. Our initial on-site work is done independently, and includes a review of the client's current permits, licenses, records, and manuals, as well as an initial walk-through to identify any high priority items. Once we create an Initial Priority List, we meet with the client to determine a timeline for the completion of the highest priority items. At this point, the Consulting Safety Officer works independently, interacting with staff periodically to assure that the materials and systems we develop and implement are practical for the client's specific laboratory and facility needs. Typically, most clients need only contribute a few hours per month to remain active in the program and to support the Consulting Safety Officer's efforts. This time requirement is miniscule compared to the many hours per week that we unload from them to develop, implement, and maintain their safety programs.

Back to top

How long does it take for a start-up biotech firm to establish a health and safety program?

A company with less than 30 employees can expect a safety program in 2 to 3 months with a 10 to 15 hours per week agreement, or 6 to 8 months with a 6 to 8 hours per week agreement. We then evaluate and modify the program on a regular basis, reducing or increasing hours as needed.

In addition, Safety Partners can support a mid-size company with 30 to150 employees for 6 to 12 hours per week, or we can run their entire safety program for 15 to 28 hours per week.

Back to top

How quickly can your clients expect to see the cost benefits of their safety programs?

Clients report seeing immediate increase in employee attention to compliance (i.e.; wearing safety glasses, minimizing exposure by using ventilation, asking specific questions about hazardous materials, equipment, and processes, seeking help with waste segregation systems, etc.) after Safety Partners entered their companies. This heightened attention to safety inevitably leads to a reduction in workplace incidents and a dramatic increase in employee efficiency and productivity. All of those factors result in an increase in employee morale, less absenteeism and lost time, reduced workman's compensation claims and insurance premiums, lower property and tenant insurance, more positive corporate image, and increased profitability and competitive advantage.

Back to top