Environmental Safety Procedures in the Workplace and on Job Sites

Good environmental policy often doubles as good business policy.

When it comes to protecting the environment, starting small can make a big impact. As a field service business, this can include making sure you clean up after opening new tools or hardware, and properly tearing down or removing old equipment. In addition, you can make changes on the office side of your business to help conserve the environment. Remember, every small gesture adds up, increases your business’ professionalism, and has the potential to impress customers.

Environmental Hazards on the Job Site

Every field service business should aspire to leave no trace (except for quality work, of course). Cleaning up on job sites prevents garbage from entering the environment and causing damage to the local ecosystem. Not only can debris damage the ecosystem, it can also cost you and your company big bucks in fines. A few safety responsibilities include:

    • Safety courses

    • Avoiding shortcuts

    • Using proper PPE, especially with the added safety guidelines produced in the last year

    • Developing an emergency plan

Ecological Hazards

Leaving no trace is one step, but we can go a bit further to ensure that hazardous materials and chemicals receive proper handling and get disposed of according to local and state guidelines. Likewise, ensure that you store chemicals in a leak-proof container so that they can’t leak into the local waterways. Taking these safety precautions eliminates potentially serious damage to your environment, and also erases the potential for fines for these offenses.

Environmental Safety Procedures for Office Environments

You can also make environmentally conscious strides in the office. Cut down on waste, recycle when possible, and store hazardous materials in clearly marked areas that following OSHA guidelines. OSHA states “Storage areas shall be kept free from accumulation of materials that constitute hazards from tripping, fire, explosion or pest harborage.” These guidelines help the safety of you and your employees. Remember, workplace accidents often ding your bottom line.

Another environmentally friendly thing you can do? Go paperless. Doing this makes all of your customer records, job records, history, and equipment information digital. This not only streamlines your business, it helps the environment. You can start to use mass email for marketing purposes, and send your customers digital forms, invoices, and estimates. This, in turn, cleans up the office and reduces clutter.

Going Paperless in the Field

Going the paperless route becomes even more beneficial in the field. At a stroke, you can eliminate the need for paper work orders, invoices, purchase orders, and even payments. It’s all possible thanks to field service management software like Smart Service.

We don’t have enough space to highlight all the benefits of Smart Service, so we’ll just focus on one that directly ties into environmental concerns: optimized routing. Streamlining the service routes each of your technicians take helps them avoid environmentally (and financially) unfriendly drive time, as they’ll tackle jobs in a logical order instead of bouncing to and fro across town. In addition to less paper usage, this means less fuel waste, and less wear and tear on company vehicles.

Get started today by scheduling a free, online Smart Service demo.