The COVID-19 pandemic has changed lives in many ways, but perhaps none more than an understanding of the importance of health and safety compliance. This is particularly relevant for the graphic communication industry where people are accustomed to working together in teams in a shared environment.
Previously, it was thought that compliance simply meant doing the minimum that federal and state agencies such as OSHA and the EPA required, and be fined if lack of compliance was discovered. Today, however, compliance also means a commitment by every employee that enters a plant that her or his personal health will not jeopardize the health and safety of anyone else in the plant. Temperature checks, mask-wearing, and related protections may be a long-term requirement or, as some say, “the new normal.”
Harvey Levenson, who coordinates the Raymond J. Prince Graphic Communication Advisor’s Group (GCAG) said, “Nelson Ho, one of the graphic communication industry’s leading advisors on environmental health and safety matters shares several myths about compliance that every person in a position of employee responsibility should know about. His article, The Myths of EHS—Environmental, Health and Safety Compliance, is written in an easy to understand manner that encourages every company to consider an audit to make sure that it is in compliance with local, state, and federal regulations and requirements, a prerequisite to individual employee COVID-19 compliance.
Ho said, “All to often, printing and related graphic communication companies put off EHS compliance as a last business investment as it is perceived by many as a ‘necessary evil.’ This is very similar to preventive maintenance. They do not do it until forced to, usually at a great and unbudgeted expense. However, the pandemic has shown us that matters related to employee health and safety needs to be moved to the top of the business priority list. Non-compliance can mean the difference between being in business and our doors being shut.”
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