Hoping to pick up where the last Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) specialist left off, many are plagued with the sudden realization that their predecessor left with most of the necessary knowledge and expertise for maintaining the facility’s EHS regulatory compliance in their head.  In a profession that relies on a complex system of collecting, recording and managing data from multiple sources, there is a great degree of risk involved when this knowledge is maintained by only a few individuals. Companies should take steps to ensure that their facility’s EHS regulatory compliance does not quit or go on vacation any time an employee does.

Employees leave organizations all the time due to various reasons ranging from retirement to promotion to termination. In fact, some companies are in a constant state of flux from employee turnover, some of which cannot be anticipated. The departure of an employee along with their expertise can significantly impact productivity.

Without capturing the knowledge of those employees on a constant basis, organizational inefficiency can result in the form of productivity loss due to wasted time or effort, duplicated work, repeated mistakes and relearning. This can be particularly troublesome with regards to EHS regulatory compliance as errors or missed deadlines could result in hefty fines. In my experience conducting EHS audits, this is seen time and time again. Without proper knowledge and safeguards in place, the facilities carry the risk of being unable to defend actions and reports generated in the past and must work harder to figure out how to create them in the future.

Tips for Establishing Institutional Knowledge
By taking steps to improve knowledge sharing among employees, a company can greatly enhance their capacity for success. This will undoubtedly be reflected in a more knowledgeable staff with greater productivity, lower costs and less time spent reinventing the wheel. The following are tips for improving knowledge sharing capabilities:

Make Information Accessible: Provide a central location for information that is managed and updated in such a way that all employees will be able to easily locate needed information. Consider keeping data in a secure, searchable online database that employees have the ability to access from their computers. By making information readily available, you can trim down time spent in search of it.

Establish Methodologies: Develop clear and concise written procedures for completing reports, projects and work procedures. These should include all steps involved in each process including locations of necessary information and exactly how to access it. The more information that is included in these write-ups, the less digging the next employee will have to do

Encourage Information Sharing: Minimize the risk of losing information by having more than a few individuals in the know. Encourage employees to share their expertise with each other. Experts within the company should not be gate-keepers of information but rather mentors to other employees.

By developing an initiative to capture and share institutional knowledge, an organization can make great strides towards eliminating the risk caused by employee turnover and also greatly improving their productivity. The company will have a database of relevant information on hand so that instead of wasting frustrating hours in search of information, employees can look to the expertise already established within the company in seconds.