Locus Technologies announces major improvements to its Railroad Incident application

Industry-leading Railroad Incident management software provider has been simplifying compliance with U.S. FRA regulations over the last five years.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 27 November 2017 — Locus Technologies, the industry leader in cloud-based environmental compliance and information management EHS software, announces a suite of enhancements to its Railroad Incident application within its state-of-the-art Locus Platform SaaS solution—a scalable, robust app-building platform for easily designing and deploying apps that precisely conform to an organization’s existing business processes and requirements.

Since 2013, Locus has maintained its position on the cutting edge of railroad industry EHS solutions, as one of the first Railroad Incident software providers in the market assisting U.S. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)-regulated organizations in maintaining compliance.

The FRA imposes rigorous reporting requirements upon Class II railroads, and maintaining compliance remains difficult for many EHS departments. While railroad safety and risk mitigation are top priorities for these departments, many are finding that trying to stay up-to-date with the latest regulations while using legacy, homegrown systems to manage compliance programs is nearly impossible.

Locus found that EHS professionals who are tasked with completing many FRA forms for each incident considered it an arduous and lengthy process, requiring multiple checks to prevent errors and oversights. Keeping in line with its guiding principle of customer success, Locus developed its Railroad Incident application so that users could easily and efficiently manage and report railroad accidents and incidents, with built-in quality control checks to verify that all reporting is in compliance with FRA regulations. Locus software has successfully generated hundreds of these reports with a single-click solution that instantly completes FRA forms for direct submittal to the agency.

The Locus Platform Railroad Incident application includes:

  • Easy-to-use data entry forms for incidents, with one-click incident section selection
  • Ability to associate multiple injuries or illnesses to an incident
  • State-of-the-art body image selector for injuries
  • Dashboards to view incident trends and key metrics to aid in proactively preventing future incidents
  • Cradle-to-grave root cause and corrective action analysis and tracking, easily configured to any company techniques or methods
  • Custom configurable workflows and email notifications to align with existing busines processes
  • Excel plugin tool for bulk importing and editing incident, employee, and other organizational data
  • Mobile-enabled incident forms
  • Push-button FRA Form generation to expedite form completion by automatically generating PDFs with e-signature for FRA Forms 54, 55, 55a, 57, 97, and 98
  • Optional integration with third party APIs like SAP and PeopleSoft

“Locus is proud to have been supporting the railroad industry for years with this important functionality. When it comes to incident management, company managers have an easily accessible, all-encompassing view of what’s occurring across all of their different facilities, sites, and incident locations. Our easy-to-use data entry forms for railroad incidents with one-click incident section selection enables the seamless capture, analyzing, reporting, e-signing, and submittal of critical FRA-specific data—all from within our industry-tested Railroad Incident application,” said Wes Hawthorne, President of Locus Technologies. “Locus’ Railroad Incident application is a single repository in the cloud that offers railroad-specific functionality for managing incident tracking, investigations, and analyzing key safety metrics aimed at reducing accidents and mitigating risks.”

For more information about Locus’ Railroad Incident application and other EHS and sustainability solutions, visit https://www.locustec.com.

Locus has been awarded by the Environmental Business Journal (EBJ) for a tenth year running!

Environmental Business Journal (EBJ) Recognizes Firms for Growth and Innovation in 2015

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA–(Marketwired – February 02, 2016) — Locus Technologies announced today that Environmental Business Journal (EBJ), a business research publication which provides high value strategic business intelligence to the environmental industry, granted the company the 2015 award for Information Technology in the environmental and sustainability industry for the tenth year running.

Locus was recognized for continuing its strategic shift to configurable Multitenant pure Software as a Service (SaaS) EHS solutions and welcoming new, high profile customers. In 2015 Locus scored record revenue from Cloud software with annual growth over 20 percent. Locus also achieved a record renewal rate of 99 percent and signed up new customers including Shell Oil Company, Philips 66, Ameresco, California Dairies, Cemex, Frito-Lay, Genentech, Lockheed Martin, PPG Industries, United Airlines and US Pipe & Foundry. Locus also became the largest provider of SaaS environmental software to the commercial nuclear industry; currently over 50 percent of U.S. nuclear generating capacity uses Locus’ flagship product. Locus’ configurable Locus Platform gained momentum in 2015 with new implementations in the manufacturing, agricultural and energy sectors, including a major contract with Sempra Energy for greenhouse gas management and reporting.

“Locus continues to influence the industry with its forward-thinking product set, pure SaaS architecture, and eye for customer needs,” said Grant Ferrier, president of Environmental Business International Inc. (EBI), publisher of Environmental Business Journal.

“We are very proud and honored to receive the prestigious EBJ Information Technology award in environmental business for a tenth time. We feel it is a testament to our unwavering commitment and dedication to accomplish this level of recognition, especially now as we lead the market by providing robust solutions for the emerging space of cloud and mobile-based environmental information management,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus Technologies.

The 2015 EBJ awards will be presented at a special ceremony at the Environmental Industry Summit XIV in San Diego, Calif. on March 9-11, 2016. The Environmental Industry Summit is an annual three-day executive retreat hosted by EBI Inc.

Locus Technologies receives EBJ Business Achievement award for Information Technology

Environmental Business Journal (EBJ) recognizes firms for growth and innovation in 2014

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 10 March 2015 — Locus Technologies announced today that Environmental Business Journal (EBJ), a business research publication which provides high value strategic business intelligence to the environmental industry, granted the company the 2014 award for Information Technology in the environmental and sustainability industry for the ninth time.

Locus was recognized for significant strategic strides in 2014 including entering the water quality management (drinking water supplies and waste water) market; introducing its new Locus Platform (a highly configurable, user-friendly interface to fully meet individual organizations’ environmental management needs); and launching Locus Mobile (a field data collection solution that is fully integrated with Locus’s flagship Environmental Information Management [EIM] platform). In addition, Locus continues to maintain its leadership position in the commercial nuclear industry by solidifying business with more than 50 percent of all U.S. commercial reactor facilities that use Locus EIM for radionuclides monitoring management.

“Locus continues to influence the industry with its forward-thinking product set and eye for customer needs,” said Grant Ferrier, president of Environmental Business International Inc. (EBI), publisher of Environmental Business Journal.

“We are very proud to receive the prestigious EBJ Information Technology award in environmental business for the ninth time. It is a statement of our vision and perseverance to accomplish this level of recognition, especially now as we lead the market by providing robust solutions for the emerging space of cloud and mobile-based environmental information management,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus Technologies.

The 2014 EBJ awards, hosted by EBI Inc., will be presented at the annual executive retreat called the Environmental Industry Summit XIII in San Diego, Calif. on March 11-13, 2015.

European Study on Chemical Composition of Fracking Wastewater: Can it be drinkable?

Have you heard of “halogenated hydrocarbons”? It is a group of chemicals containing elements that when consumed by humans, it can damage the nervous system and your liver. Normally, these compounds are not on your daily menu.  But studies suggest these elements are appearing in water as by the reuse of fracking wastewater which ironically has been treated with chlorine-containing antibacterial chemicals.  The process of cleaning the water is a common practice. More studies of treated wastewater are being conducted to more clearly determined if the creation of halogenated hydrocarbons from antibacterial chemicals occurs during treatment of wastewater or during reuse.

Produced water, water that is chemically cleaned, can contain a complex mixture of metals — salts and other chemicals, partly composed of the original fracturing fluid components — plus chemicals released by the rocks in the area. Large volumes of water used for fracking poses some level of side effects of the wastewater on human and environmental health. To investigate further, researchers in Europe, in one of the most comprehensive studies of chemical composition of its kind to date, took samples of produced water from three fracking sites in the US.  A number of different analysis techniques were used to determine the chemical composition of the samples, although not the concentrations of the different organic (carbon-based) constituents.

The researchers found that produced water contained a diverse array of chemicals including toxic metals such as mercury and the carcinogens toluene and ethylbenzene. However, a group of harmful chemicals, ‘polyaromatic hydrocarbons’ commonly found in mining and coal extraction wastewater, were absent.

A wide range of metals were found in all samples, but varied depending on the geology of the area. Among these were chromium, mercury and arsenic, all of which were found at levels exceeding US maximum contamination levels (MCL) for drinking water in at least one well. Over 50 different organic chemicals were identified, the majority of which were part of a group of chemicals called ‘saturated hydrocarbons’. Many of these were common to more than one well. They included carcinogens toluene and ethylbenzene. However, the researchers did not find polyaromatic hydrocarbons, which are usually found in mining and coal extraction wastewater.

The authors believe that detailed chemical analyses of produced waters, such as theirs, highlight problems in wastewater treatment protocols,  In particular, the problem of developing a process that removes a wide range of organic compounds. While the findings of this research are based on fracking sites in the US, they may also be useful for other regions where fracking is being actively pursued, such as the UK, and could help to develop policies and techniques to reduce the risk of environmental contamination.

Fresh water continues to be challenged, not from just drought or salt contamination, but from the process of re-creating quality drinking water.

Locus Technologies’ Customer Exelon Corp. to Present at the NAEM EHS and Sustainability Software Conference Feb 24-25

Exelon’s Eric Schwarz to Discuss “Succeeding in Managing Water Quality and Monitoring at Nuclear Facilities”

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 17 February 2015 — Locus Technologies, a leader in environmental compliance and sustainability management software, today announced that Exelon Corporation’s Radiochemist/Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program Administrator, Eric Schwarz, will present at The National Association for Environmental Management (NAEM) conference as part of the EH&S and Sustainability Software conference on Wednesday, February 25 from 3 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. The presentation and demonstration will focus on his experience and insight on water quality management at Exelon’s nuclear facilities. Exelon is one of the largest U.S. power generators that delivers electricity and natural gas to more than 7.8 million customers and distinguished as one of the nation’s cleanest and lowest-cost power generating organizations. At the conference, Locus will host its corporate booth, booth 12, located in Ballroom I, at the Westin Tampa Harbour Island Conference Center.

Title: Succeeding in Managing Water Quality and Monitoring at Nuclear Facilities
When: Two sessions – Wednesday, February 25 from 3 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Where: Westin Tampa Harbour Island Conference Center, Ballrooms I & II
Exelon to Discuss and Demonstrate: Radiological groundwater protection program operations and monitoring data management is critical for 11 nuclear facilities in the U.S. and Canada. The demo will show how Locus EIM, ePortal, and Locus Mobile provides enterprise tools for proactive trending, analysis, visualization, and reporting from massive data aggregation from varied sources.
Who: Eric Schwarz, Exelon’s Radiochemist/ Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program Administrator. Schwarz oversees the radiological environment monitoring and radioactive effluent controls for Exelon’s Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania. Schwarz’s nuclear radiochemistry career began in the U.S. Navy where, for more than 14 years, he gained technical expertise in several disciplines and specialties to ensure regulatory compliance and safety.

NAEM empowers corporate leaders to advance environmental stewardship, create safe and healthy workplaces, and promote global sustainability. Locus Technologies is a Gigabyte sponsor at this event.

Locus Announces Railroad Industry Specific Incident Management Module

Companies can comply with FRA and other health and safety regulations through the use of Locus’ Incident software

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 12 November 2013—October 28, 2013 —Locus Technologies (Locus), the leader in cloud-based environmental compliance and information management software, has added a railroad-specific health and safety (H&S) incident management module to its software offerings.

The Incident module enables users to report and manage railroad accidents and incidents in compliance with Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulations. Other features of the Incident module include easy-to-use data entry forms for incidents and near misses; the ability to associate multiple injuries/illnesses to an incident; customizable dashboards to view incident trends and other key metrics; automated incident notifications with configurable workflows; and push-button generation of report-ready FRA and OSHA 300, 300A, and 301 forms.

“When it comes to incident management, company managers should be able to have an easily accessible, all-encompassing view of what’s occurring across all of their different facilities, sites, and incident locations,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus. “Locus’ H&S Incident module represents a single repository in the cloud, that offers railroad-specific functionality and ease of use for managing incident investigations, and analyzing key safety metrics aimed at reducing accidents and mitigating risks.”

This module represents Locus’ continuous commitment to the enhancement and expansion of its software offerings. The railroad-specific Incident module is available for use immediately.

Kelly-Moore Paints Selects Locus Cloud Software for Compliance and Safety Management

Paint Company Takes Major Step to Integrated Compliance Management

SAN FRANCISCO, 3 December 2012 — Kelly-Moore Paint Company, Inc., a leader and innovator of waterborne-coating technology and one of the first companies to offer recycled paints and higher performance no-VOC paints, announced it has selected Locus Technologies’ award-winning ePortal™ platform to provide a comprehensive, integrated system for environmental compliance and safety management throughout the corporation’s facilities.

ePortal will provide Kelly-Moore with enterprise tools to manage compliance activities. The software will allow the company to take a more holistic view of its operations, enabling it to reduce both compliance expenditures and costs at all of its locations.

Through a single Cloud-based secure system, the Locus platform will help the company collect, monitor, analyze, and report multiple streams of environmental data flowing from Kelly-Moore operational locations. Compliance and safety modules of ePortal will be deployed first to organize and manage relevant data, tasks, permits, safety, and regulatory reporting. Strong ePortal business analytics will be used to prepare management reports and dashboards.

“Companies are looking beyond single solution or single medium to manage all of their compliance and safety reporting,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus Technologies. “They seek solutions that help to align their compliance, safety, environmental emissions, and resource management strategies to become more efficient, integrated, and automated to not only comply with regulations and reporting requirements, but also to lower their operational cost. ePortal provides that simple, integrated system, similar to ERP, that manages all compliance, environmental, energy, water, air and other sustainability needs under a single portal infrastructure and Single Sign On (SSO) on the Web.”

Kelly-Moore has always pursued an aggressive agenda for environmental compliance and sustainability. Kelly-Moore was also recognized for its carbon offset program resulting in the San Carlos Plant becoming carbon neutral.

Kelly-Moore has received several widely recognized green business awards from the state of California and San Mateo County for its outstanding efforts to reduce pollution and solid waste, and conserve water, energy, and other natural resources, including the recent ”Large Green Business of the Year” award for its recycling effort, a rare achievement for a company in the chemical-based paint industry.

“Managing our environmental impact has always been a major priority for our organization; by working with Locus’ Cloud software, we will improve our ability to analyze and forecast our reliance on critical environmental resources and perform better compliance management. This will not only help the company meet its compliance goals, but will also improve our financial performance,” said Mr. Robert Stetson, Director of Risk Management. “Management of our complex set of activities requires robust software architectures that are best delivered via the Cloud. We found all of these in Locus’ platform.”

ABOUT KELLY-MOORE PAINT COMPANY
Headquartered in San Carlos, Calif., Kelly-Moore is one of the largest employee-owned paint companies in the United States, where each employee-owner is committed to offering exceptional customer service. When you call or visit a Kelly-Moore store you are speaking with an owner. A leader and innovator of waterborne-coating technology, Kelly-Moore was the first major paint company to offer recycled paints, along with the largest selection of stock colors. Kelly-Moore is one of the few companies to continue to offer stock colors for superior color consistency. Trusted and preferred by professionals since 1946 as the “Painter’s Paint Store” for its high quality, performance and consistency, Kelly-Moore’s paints are safe and easy to use for everyone. The company’s environmentally friendly paint factory in San Carlos, Calif., is the recipient of four widely recognized and among the most stringent environmental awards. Kelly-Moore is dedicated to giving back to the communities it serves. This ethos is reflected in its corporate giving program and its numerous industry-leading green business accolades. For more information, visit www.kellymoore.com

EPA Introduces New Air Quality Standards

Organizations around the world face increasing regulations focusing on environment, health and safety (EHS) issues. Managing these rules and regulations are a very resource-intensive activity with greater risk of brand damage, penalties, and fines for non-compliance.

Organizations have to spend significant resources in tracking these regulations carefully, and organizations have to be even more vigilant with changing international regulations, which can affect business agility and continuity.

This month Environmental Protection Agency announced new air quality standards intended to reduce the amount of soot that can be released into the air.

Environmental groups and public health advocates welcomed the move by the EPA, saying it would protect millions of Americans at risk for soot-related asthma attacks, lung cancer, heart disease and premature death.

EPA said that the new rule is based on a rigorous scientific review. All but six counties in the United States would meet the proposed standard by 2020 with no additional actions needed beyond compliance with existing and pending rules set by the EPA.

The rules include controversial regulations governing mercury emissions and cross-state air pollution emitted by power plants. The new rule would set the maximum allowable standard for soot in a range of 12 to 13 micrograms per cubic meter of air. The current annual standard is 15 micrograms per cubic meter. The EPA said it would start designating counties that fail to meet the new soot standards as soon as 2014.

Soot, made up of microscopic particles released from smokestacks, diesel trucks and buses, wood-burning stoves and other sources, contributes to haze and can burrow into lungs. Breathing in soot can cause lung and heart problems.

San Francisco Chronicle | The Gulf Spill: Shut down the well first

It appears that almost the entire focus of the response to the BP oil rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico is on how to deal with the oil on the surface of the water. The focus needs to be on shutting down the well.

Locus’ Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) SaaS Module Offers Expanded Greenhouse Gas Tracking

Locus’ Enhanced eEHS Moves Corporate Sustainability Reporting Higher into the Cloud

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., December 22, 2008 — Locus Technologies, the industry leader in web-based environmental compliance and information management software, announced today the roll out of its updated eEHS on-demand environmental health and safety software, specifically designed to serve the multi-national marketplace.

The updated eEHS module enables enterprises to collect compliance information from any location at any time via a native Web 2.0 platform, using a simple, intuitive interface. eEHS enables customers to easily review and evaluate data, spot issues or trends, and create reports and roll ups on corporate EHS status. With eEHS, companies centrally manage and report in real time all governance, risk and compliance (GRC) data, including greenhouse gas (GHG), Sarbanes-Oxley, energy consumption and water and waste usage information.

In response to an increased focus on greenhouse gas reporting, environmental sustainability and GRC reporting, Locus revamped its eEHS application, enhancing environmental and sustainability indicator tracking and reporting. Key new features include the addition of a robust ad hoc query capability that produces boardroom quality reports with a single mouse click—all delivered through Cloud computing or SaaS. eEHS’s new multi-language capability significantly enhances the user experience and reduces training. Because eEHS is offered via the Internet, there is no software to install and no hardware to purchase, streamlining global roll outs and reducing costs.

One of Locus’ long term customers, Alstom, an international leader in equipment and services for power generation and rail transport solutions, recently deployed the enhanced Locus eEHS worldwide. Operating in more than 70 countries and employing some 76,000 people, Alstom is enjoying the improved work flow and ease of data collection offered by eEHS. Sustainable development is central to the Alstom strategy and Locus software is helping Alstom meet its strategic goals.

“Locus eEHS is elegant in its simplicity,” said Locus President and CEO Neno Duplancic. “Collecting and reporting KPI information from hundreds of global locations is a challenge faced by every company operating internationally. Locus’ eEHS solves this problem by offering a very targeted software application via the Web, making data collection painless.”

“Our web-based eEHS provides businesses instant access to global information at a fraction of the cost of any installed on premises system,” continued Duplancic. “With the new regulations dealing with global warming issues just around the corner, companies must manage EHS issues carefully to avoid the risk of non-compliance. Now Locus’ customers have an on-demand software tool that consolidates all reporting activities into a single platform and that carries no implementation risk.”