Why Vanguard? Two All-Important Reasons!
Why does Vanguard Environmental, Inc. serve more companies throughout North America than any other regulatory compliance consulting firm?
- There are well over 60 Laws/Regulations imposed upon industry by the U.S. EPA, OSHA, U.S. DOT, and the Department of Homeland Security, with further regulations mandated by state, county, and local regulatory agencies.
- Significant Enforcement Penalty Policies (increase annually via the U.S. CPI).
- EPA’s penalty policies are set from *$69,000 per day to *$121,000 per day.
- OSHA’s penalty policies are set in a range, depending on the severity of the violation and several factors…*$16,131 to *$161,323 per violation.
The popularity of Vanguard throughout North America is founded on two core values: (1) ethics, especially regarding fees. Vanguard features turnkey compliance for a flat-rate fee, to the avoidance of “billable hours,” aka “time and materials;” (2) Treating others in the same way you’d like to be treated.
The attention of Vanguard’s staff is focused on efficiency through precision due diligence to satisfy and manage a client’s compliance (rather than generating high-dollar revenues through “billable hours”) After all…why should a client have to pay for inflated hours, or worse, something not required by law?
Established in 1992...
Vanguard serves its clientele in the same way a CPA firm handles a client’s IRS and tax matters, thereby converting each client’s Risk Management Metric (a measurable minimum dollar amount of enforcement risk) to a Risk Management Value through a partnership that typically lasts for decades. This, in turn, keeps the client’s personnel focused on their own company’s operational and revenue-producing activities, while relying on Vanguard to enhance the client’s commitment to corporate citizenship, environmental stewardship, and world-class sustainability. Vanguard’s personnel maintains over 400 combined years of EHS compliance experience – with dozens of degrees and certifications – comprising departments in Environmental Engineering, Environmental Science/Technology, OSHA Education, and Regulatory Specialists.
With the support of these Vanguard’s own proprietary technologies, our environmental engineers and environmental managers don’t need to spend as much time onsite at the client’s facility, since they’re already armed with essential data previously gathered during the precision due diligence stage using the company’s intellectual properties. This method better defines the scope of a given project and eliminates the need for charging exorbitant fees.
These intellectual properties include:
- Environmental Management System (EMS USA!)
- Environmental Management System (EMS California!)
- California has many laws unique to that state. This drove the need for a separate EMS program to serve industry in “The Golden State.”
- Environmental Management System (EMS Canada!)
- Environmental Protection Online!
- Inspection-ready Defensible Documentation
- OSH Online!
- To support its onsite, site-specific employee training, Vanguard meets client needs for evidence-based compliance via this veritable “electronic filing cabinet” – an HR Manager’s dream-come-true – written policies, plans, and participant records to be digitally stored for as much as 30 years per OSHA regulations.
- Coming soon are three more proprietary technologies: (1) EMS Mexico!...to serve industry and its compliance issues emerging as a part of the Mexican nation’s maquiladora system; (2) EMS EU/REACH!...to accommodate industry’s needs among the European Union’s 27 member states, plus the UK and its UK/REACH requirements; (3) EMS Global! (an Environmental Sustainability Stewardship Program)…to serve multi-national companies on a myriad of worldwide regulatory compliance responsibilities. With the regulatory compliance field consolidating globally, Vanguard is positioned to meet industry’s compliance needs among virtually all the industrialized nations around the world.
Four Primary Benefits
When the Federal Government boasts enforcement penalty policies from *$69,000 to $121,000 per day per violation, American business and industry is plagued with significant risks on a myriad of over 60 regulatory compliance laws, most of which must be satisfied and managed annually. Therefore, Vanguard’s #1 client benefit is Risk Management Against Enforcement Penalties.
- On the first primary benefit, Four Downside Risks come with every violation:
- When penalty policies are set at *$69,000-$121,000 per day, a company’s fine is of no small concern. (Numbers based on 2024 U.S. CPI)
- Attorneys’ fees usually result in another 30% to 50% above the entity’s civil penalty.
- Litigation typically lasts 1-3 years; valuable time and productivity are lost.
- Corporate violators end up on other inspectors’ “hit lists.”
- The second primary benefit is Legislative Updating since EHS laws evolve by about 30% per year by amendments and newly enacted regulations.
- Third is Representation During Enforcement Inspections. The client’s defensible documentation serves as an inspection showpiece when an inspector comes on the scene. In its simplest form, it’s called evidence-based compliance, a tangible outgrowth of Vanguard’s precision due diligence. And it’s rare that enforcement inspectors don’t applaud the client’s commitment to compliance when they see Vanguard’s work, which sends them quickly out the front door – a smile planted on the face of the client’s compliance officer – with the matter resolved as if it were a 15-20 minute coffee break.
- Finally, the client’s Economic Benefits are realized in overall savings. Because Vanguard executes precision due diligence at the outset of every client relationship, monitored and managed moving forward, a company’s compliance investment is made only toward its compliance gaps, never on extraneous issues not mandated. Many compliance issues are eliminated and supported with defensible documentation. This positions Vanguard to execute just a few turnkey compliance projects, simplifying costs to flat-rate fees, as opposed to the exorbitant over-reach of “billable hours.”
*[These 2024 numbers increase annually via the U.S. Consumer Price Index.]