Jan 22 • General discussion
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?
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Field Observation from 25+ Years Around Industry:
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