Field Observation from 25+ Years Around Industry:
The biggest compliance failures I see aren’t caused by bad intentions — they’re caused by assumptions. Facilities assume: • “Our stormwater plan is up to date.” • “We don’t store anything hazardous long enough to matter.” • “The sampling lab will tell us if something is wrong.” • “If we haven’t heard from regulators, we must be fine.” • “Our construction crews know the BMPs — they’ve done this a hundred times.” ← This one causes more Notices of Violation than most people realize. But in practice? It’s usually one overlooked detail — one tank, one chemical, one missed inspection, one expired plan — that triggers the violation, not the major hazards everyone focuses on. What separates facilities with few problems from those constantly fire-fighting isn’t size or budget……it’s discipline: ✔ knowing exactly what applies ✔ checking the basics consistently ✔ documenting smarter, not more ✔ avoiding assumptions and validating instead I’ve spent my career in environmental engineering and EHS compliance, and the same pattern shows up across manufacturing, utilities, logistics, and even municipal systems: The real risk is in the things we think we already know. Curious — for those working in EH&S day-to-day:👉 What’s the most “innocent” assumption you’ve seen turn into a serious compliance issue?