Environmental and safety regulations change often — sometimes seemingly overnight!
If you’re not paying close attention, it’s easy to miss important changes that affect your company.
So what’s the best way to keep up with regulatory changes? Below, we’ve put together a list of eight of the easiest ways to stay on top of emerging rules in your industry.
How to stay on top of regulatory changes
- Monitor regulatory agency websites
- Follow regulatory agencies on social media
- Subscribe to blogs & newsletters
- Build relationships with regulators
- Join industry associations
- Attend conferences
- Talk to your peers
- Implement compliance software
1. Monitor regulatory agency websites
The most obvious way to stay on top of regulatory changes is to go straight to the source. Agencies like OSHA and the EPA post policy changes directly to their website. By regularly checking each agency’s website, you can see if there are any changes you should be aware of.
However, manually checking each agency's website isn't exactly efficient — and there's no way to know if something comes up in between. That’s where an RSS feed reader comes in.
A feed reader automatically scans and curates updates from different websites, blogs, or news outlets in one convenient place. That way, you don't have to keep checking back to each individual site to see if it's been updated. You just add the site to your feed reader and then read updates as they're delivered to you. Popular feed reader tools include Feedly, Newsblur, and Feeder, to name a few.
2. Follow regulatory agencies on social media
In addition to their own websites, most regulatory agencies also maintain accounts on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. They use these accounts to share information about their activities and policy updates. If you already use social media regularly, following these accounts is an easy way to stay on top of regulatory changes.
Here are some accounts you might want to follow:
- DOT: Twitter, LinkedIn
- EPA: Facebook, Twitter, all other platforms
- FDA: Facebook, Twitter
- OSHA: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- USDA: Facebook, Twitter
3. Subscribe to blogs & newsletters
By subscribing to industry blogs and newsletters, you can have regulatory updates delivered directly to your inbox. Some regulatory agencies publish their own newsletters, such as OSHA Quicktakes. There are also many EHS blogs that publish regulatory news and updates. For example, you can subscribe to our blog for industry news, regulatory changes, tips, and resources just for EHS professionals. Here are some other great EHS blogs to check out.
4. Build relationships with regulators
5. Join industry associations
Joining a professional association is a great way to stay current in your field. These associations typically host seminars, course, and educational events to help you keep up with the latest developments. In addition, many associations publish journals or newsletters that brief you on important industry trends and legislative changes. Here’s a list of the best EHS associations and professional organizations to join.
6. Attend conferences
Conferences aren’t just great for networking — they’re also a perfect way to stay current on new regulations. You’ll have the opportunity to attend sessions where you can learn about compliance best practices, and hear from others in your industry on how they’re navigating new requirements.
Sometimes, conferences will even feature presentations from the regulatory agencies themselves. The benefit here is that you’re able to get information “straight from the horse’s mouth”. You might even get to ask some questions and make a valuable connection.
To help you plan your calendar, we’ve put together a list of 50+ EHS conferences to attend.
7. Talk to your peers
8. Implement compliance software
We hope this list has given you some valuable ideas on how to keep up with regulatory changes. What ideas would you add to the list?
