Focus on EHS Compliance Management during Changing Administrative Priorities

It’s important for safety, environmental, and sustainability professionals to stay focused on the fundamentals of EHS compliance management.

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APTIM chooses Locus EHS software to transform a $2.4 million/year waste disposal program for a large national retailer.

APTIM is a top ten environmental management firm tackling sustainability and resilience challenges for energy, waste, water, and other resources. The company provides integrated services and solutions to government agencies, commercial, industrial, and energy customers with complex and ambitious environmental objectives. By pairing its consultants with industry-leading technologies, APTIM delivers customized, cutting-edge solutions to each of its clients. Case in point: a national retail chain experienced recurring challenges with its waste program and engaged APTIM to identify and resolve the root causes.

Challenge

The environmental, health, and safety (EHS) department for a large, national retail chain had been self-managing the logistics, tracking, and reporting related to waste disposal for 850 stores in the US. The in-house team managed the relationships with waste haulers, scheduled and verified pickups, and responded to unforeseen waste overages at different stores. The retailer’s processes could not scale to the quantity of locations and variables, nor did their system provide reliable insights to respond to issues or optimize operations.

  • Dispersed stakeholders and disconnected data sources: The retailer’s waste program spans 850 locations and involves input from store managers, waste haulers, TSDF vendors, and EHS staff at the home office. There was no central database to manage the program or to store the quantitative and qualitative information collected…

The story continues… Download the full case study to learn more.

“Locus went above and beyond our expectations. Not only does Locus software do exactly what we asked, it has enabled us to deliver value to our client in ways we hadn’t expected.”

Emissions Management Software: GHG Reporting Deadline for the Year 2024 Extended from March 31, 2025, to May 30, 2025

Greenhouse Gases (GHG) Reporting Deadline for the Year 2024 Extended from March 31, 2025, to May 30, 2025.

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Celebrating Pi Day and the “Constants” that Define our Approach to Environmental Compliance and Sustainability

Celebrating Pi Day and the “Constants” that Define our Approach to Environmental Compliance and Sustainability.

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PFAS Regulations: Delay of Effective Date of adding certain PFAS to the TRI

Delay of Effective Date of adding certain PFAS to the TRI.

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The 6 Biggest Pitfalls of EHS Software Vendor “Rollups”

Rollups of software companies have truly dramatic impacts on the organizations that rely on those software products.

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The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey selects Locus for Construction Projects’ Embodied Carbon Calculations

Introduction

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Port Authority) selected Locus Sustainable Construction software to streamline embodied carbon calculations for construction projects as part of its ongoing environmental stewardship and sustainable and resilient development. The Port Authority has been using the Waste Management application on the Locus Platform since 2019. A key factor for Port Authority was the out-of-the-box configurability of the Locus Platform.

Challenge

The Port Authority announced last September the implementation of a Clean Construction Program, which will reduce carbon emissions throughout the design and construction processes. It is one of the most ambitious programs of its kind among U.S. transportation agencies.

The Port Authority performs large-scale infrastructure projects that include airport redevelopments and critical routine maintenance at bridges and tunnels. The Clean Construction Program will reduce embodied carbon from on-site construction activities and materials’ manufacturing and transportation. It will also promote the circular economy by reusing materials to increase their lifespans and reduce air pollution from construction across all facilities.

The Clean Construction Program diverts a minimum of 75% of concrete, asphalt, and steel construction waste from landfills. The Program advances environmentally friendly infrastructure design, increasing the Port Authority’s commitment to reducing emissions and leading the transportation sector towards a low-carbon and more sustainable future.

The Clean Construction program is a critical element of the Port Authority’s sustainability plan by aggressively reducing greenhouse gas emissions outlined in the agency’s first-in-sector commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement. The Port Authority has committed to reducing emissions by 35 percent by 2025 and 80 percent by 2050.

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Locus Technologies’ Solution for Westinghouse Environmental Data Management

Westinghouse, a leading provider of nuclear power solutions, sought to address a significant challenge: the lack of an enterprise wide solution for managing environmental data across its global operations. With over 11,000 employees, Westinghouse was determined to improve data collection, compliance monitoring, and decision-making processes related to environmental media, including soil, groundwater, surface water, and air.

The absence of a comprehensive data management system led to inefficiencies and limited their ability to generate real-time reports, trend data, and proactively address environmental risks. Westinghouse issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to identify a solution that could centralize their environmental data management, generate meaningful analytics, and support compliance efforts. Locus Technologies won the competitive bid in 2022.

Identified Challenges

  • Lack of Centralized Data Storage: Westinghouse did not have a unified system for storing and accessing environmental data.
  • Limited Decision-Making Capabilities: The inability to easily track trends, generate reports, and receive timely alerts hindered decision-making and compliance management.
  • Manual Data Processes: Without an automated solution, collecting, validating, and reporting data was inefficient and prone to errors.

Locus Technologies’ Solution

To address these challenges, Westinghouse selected Locus Technologies, leveraging their Environmental Information Management (EIM) cloud software—a proven solution for managing complex environmental data.

  1. Centralized Data Management: Locus EIM provided a cloud-based, centralized database hosted on AWS. This allowed Westinghouse to store both historical and future environmental data in one secure location, ensuring consistent access across their global enterprise.
  2. Advanced Data Analytics and Visualization: The software’s robust analytics tools, including customizable dashboards, trend analysis, and GIS integration, enabled Westinghouse to visualize data in real-time and quickly identify potential compliance issues.
  3. Automation of Data Collection and Validation: Locus EIM automated key processes, such as data validation on upload, reducing errors and accelerating the data collection workflow. This allowed for quicker and more effective decision-making.
  4. Customizable Reports and Alerts: Westinghouse gained the ability to generate automated reports and receive alerts when environmental thresholds were exceeded. This capability enhanced their environmental monitoring and ensured timely responses to potential risks.
  5. Mobile Integration: Locus Mobile enabled Westinghouse’s field teams to collect and upload data seamlessly, even in offline settings, further improving data accuracy and efficiency.

Deployment Experience

Locus Technologies’ extensive experience deploying environmental data solutions for major organizations made them an ideal partner. Their history of SaaS deployments, combined with expertise in data migration from diverse sources, ensured a smooth transition for Westinghouse’s environmental data.

Results

The deployment of Locus EIM enabled Westinghouse to:

  • Consolidate Data Management: Westinghouse successfully centralized its environmental data management, eliminating data silos and improving data access.
  • Improve Decision-Making: Real-time data visualization and automated alerts empowered Westinghouse to proactively manage environmental compliance.
  •  Enhance Efficiency: Automation of data collection and reporting reduced manual tasks and improved data accuracy.
  • Scalability: Locus EIM’s cloud-based solution provided scalability, adapting to Westinghouse’s changing data needs over time.

This comprehensive solution transformed Westinghouse’s approach to environmental data management, establishing a proactive compliance and risk management system that supported their sustainability and safety goals.

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Locus’ Sustainable Construction Software Aligns with New US EPA Label Program for Low Embodied Carbon Construction Materials

Locus Simplifies Reporting for Buy Clean Programs and Embodied Carbon Emissions

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., August 27, 2024 —Locus Technologies, the sustainability and Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) compliance software leader, today announced that its Sustainable Construction application is compatible with Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), including those that will be produced and enriched during Phase 1 of the US EPA labeling program that was announced earlier this month. The EPA program will enable purchasers to easily identify and procure verified low embodied carbon construction materials and cite the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of a single unit of the material, as recorded in the EPD. Construction contractors connect the EPDs for their selected materials, spanning multiple product categories such as steel, glass, concrete, asphalt, and discrete mixes, into Locus software, along with data pertaining to the quantity of each material that enters the construction site. Locus calculates the emissions across infinite EPDs and quantity-records to effectively track the environmental impact of building and transportation projects, and to easily demonstrate compliance with low carbon targets.  

“Our clients are accurate and credible in every environmental, health, safety, and sustainability pursuit, including clean construction,” said Wes Hawthorne, President of Locus. “Considering the magnitude of construction projects, especially those for government infrastructure, there may be big differences between the predicted emissions in the design phase, and the actual reporting that comes directly from tracking EPDs and verified material quantities.”   

The significance, volume, and quality of EPDs is expected to grow subsequent to the EPA labeling program. Locus Sustainable Construction software supports several API integrations, empowering contractors to source EPDs directly from the EC3 database or the EPA’s future EPD and labeling registry. The software also helps to “simplify the process for specifiers and contractors to track compliance with directives to procure and use these materials and products,” as outlined in the EPA announcement, and to demonstrate the cumulative impacts. Locus manages this data across individual infrastructure projects or a portfolio of development sites. 

“While the rollouts of the EPA label program will focus on A1 to A3 stages of a Life Cycle Assessment, Locus software is designed with flexibility to manage GHG and other EPD data from your choice of endpoints: Cradle to Gate, Cradle to Laid, and Cradle to Grave,” said Dorian Bailey, former Chief of Clean Construction for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the current Customer Success Director at Locus Technologies. “Net zero ambitions are generally limited to operational carbon, like a building’s energy use, so we are pleased to help A/E and Construction Contractors simplify the work of reducing embodied carbon as well.” 

Locus Sustainable Construction is one of several integrated applications available in Locus software. Other Locus offerings include EHS risk and compliance, waste management, water quality, incident management, ESG reporting, and robust environmental data management software. This collection of specialized tools enables clients to manage every facet of sustainable construction and environmental data in one place. To learn more about Locus Sustainable Construction or the full suite of applications, please visit www.locustec.com.  

About Locus Technologies

Locus Technologies, the global environmental, social, governance (ESG), sustainability, and EHS compliance software leader, empowers companies of every size and industry to be credible with ESG reporting. From 1997, Locus pioneered enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) for EHS compliance, water management, and ESG credible reporting. Locus apps and software solutions improve business performance by strengthening risk management and EHS for organizations across industries and government agencies. Organizations ranging from medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 enterprises, such as Sempra, Corteva, Chevron, DuPont, Chemours, San Jose Water Company, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Port of Seattle, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, have selected Locus. Locus is headquartered in Mountain View, California. For further information regarding Locus and its commitment to excellence in SaaS solutions, please visit www.locustec.com or email info@locustec.com. 

Southern California public works department optimizes the management of water quality and more with Locus software.

This municipality is in a mountainous region of Southern California, several miles from the coastline. Its mediterranean climate, nature preserves and wetlands, and corporate business parks have helped it attract close to 130,000 full-time residents. A buying committee spanning environmental compliance analysts and specialists, water quality managers, and GIS analysts sought a cloud-based solution to simplify data collection, tracking, and compliance work related to the city’s drinking water, stormwater, reservoir data, and wastewater.

Challenge

The Environmental Division of this city’s Public Works Department is a lean operation with diverse responsibilities. The state’s water supply is at risk due to drought and climate change, and the water they do have is vulnerable to urban/stormwater runoff and wastewater. The team must track water quality and demonstrate compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), and the California Department of Health Services (DHS). With scientists working in the field and compliance personnel in the office, they needed a better way to collect and manage data pertaining to their work.

Solution

After extensive market research, Locus Technologies and two other software companies were shortlisted and invited to participate in a formal RFP process. One product was immediately ruled out because it only excelled with one niche requirement. The city conducted reference checks and deeper analysis of product functionality. This research revealed that the third product had limited practical experience and configurability. In contrast, the city valued Locus’ dual solution for environmental information management and EHS compliance, plus the company’s proven experience with water utilities and incident management. Locus successfully completed a pilot implementation for the city in 2022, followed by a complete roll-out in 2023

Results

This relatively small municipality needed a software product that was both robust to handle its critical water data and compliance, and flexible to meet the varied needs of compliance personnel, managers, GIS analysts, policy makers, and the public. They also required a partner that had relevant experience, a solid track record, the ability to scale to support broader sustainability initiatives, and experts ready to listen and problem solve. Locus proved to be the only company that could meet all requirements, and ultimately help the city’s environmental department become more efficient and better managed.

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Locus really listened and understood that we are small operation. They had a great proposal, and they happened to have great pricing. We hope to expand the Locus platform for other needs in the city.