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Up until the last decade or so, there were 3 main environmental career paths– regulatory, industrial, or consulting. The regulatory agencies enforce the federal, state, and local environmental laws/regulations. Industrial facility (manufacturing facilities, hospitals, labs, etc.) environmental compliance personnel are responsible for determining which requirements apply and carrying out the day-to-day tasks needed to comply with those requirements. Consultants assist industry with environmental compliance activities.

Now, there are many more directions and specialties. For example, ISO 14001 is the leading environmental management system (EMS) standard by which an environmental program’s quality is monitored and evaluated. This is largely customer-driven, not an EPA requirement. A facility should have an environmental program in place that documents the applicable rules and the permits/applications, records, reports, monitoring, testing, and plans that are used to demonstrate compliance. The facility could also have an EMS in place that is regularly audited. One can have an environmental program and not have an EMS but one should not have an EMS with no environmental program– that would be like writing an outline for a book and sending it to the publisher.

Additional examples are sustainability, environmental social governance (ESG), and other initiatives that do not always have the force of law but are socially driven or customer expectations, which make them important as well. But none of these should replace a facility’s basic environmental compliance program.

As an environmental compliance consultant, I am able to fulfill many of the regulatory requirements for my clients but nothing beats boots-on-the-ground onsite personnel for getting things done. I hope more universities add the compliance component to their course offerings because this is an important, needed, and growing field. Until then, I will continue to offer consulting services in addition to books and training here at EnvironmentHQ.com to assist!