Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) site assessments are a key aspect of protecting human health and the environment.  

In these assessments, skilled inspectors from firms such as ours visit factories, warehouses, hospitals, vacant sites, and other properties to check for potential environmental or human safety problems. They then prepare reports that can be relied upon by government regulators, corporate head offices, and potential buyers of those properties. The result is that potential or current environmental problems get flagged, so that corrective action can be taken.  

It’s work that requires a sound methodology for handling vast quantities of on-site measurements, observations, photographs, videos, and other data. This work has to be done in a way that meets regulatory requirements and is done quickly – and cost-effectively.  

That’s a tall order.

To better meet their clients’ expectations in EHS due diligence, our team in Santander, Spain looked for an information management tool that would help them keep track of the vast flow of data from EHS site assessments. They tried several third-party tools. Then they found their solution in a digital platform that had been developed in 2014 by our New Zealand office, for a totally different purpose -- inventory compilation and condition assessment. 

Our EHS team found that this product, called Asset Data Tool (ADT), could be repurposed for EHS site assessments. Our professionals in Spain worked with those in New Zealand and in the UK to modify ADT for the new use. 

In this, ADT is an excellent example of applying information revolution tools to niche technical applications. 

Our professionals in Spain have found ADT a great support to planning an EHS site visit – determining what data will need to be collected including water and soil samples, observations about the state of installations such as tanks and pipes, and photographs of physical assets. This way, regulators’ expectations as well as specific client requirements can be met.

During site visits, ADT helps make sure that no measurements or observations get missed. Inspectors can upload data including photographs from a mobile phone, to the project database. Ease of use means that it’s possible for our teams to visit a site, compile the necessary data and upload it quickly, so that they may be able to complete their work at several sites in each day.