In 2020, Covid-19 posed a challenge to all of us – how could we deliver our services while keeping our staff and our clients’ teams safe? 2020 meant that our staff needed to work closely with our clients to innovate and evolve our approach to training. We have always thrived on using our versatility to solve our clients’ problems, and in 2020, that has meant we had to be more creative than ever.  From technical programs to help our clients stay up to date on the latest emerging contaminant or regulatory requirement, to trainings and audits needed to help our clients maintain regulatory compliance, we adapted, and we did it!

This year, we delivered two virtual technical trainings to our Fortune 100 insurance-sector clients. One, entitled “PFAS – Everyone’s New Four-Letter Acronym” was approved for two Multiline/Professional Adjuster professional development credit hours by the states of California, Georgia and New Hampshire and included an audience of attendees from across the country. The second, “Mercury – What is it Where is it, Why it is a Hazard, and How to Manage a Release” was recently provided in response to an unexpected claim regarding a release of this uncommon contaminant from an antique mirror in a household. Delivering these presentations via a virtual platform allowed GeoInsight to reach members of our clients’ teams that we might not have otherwise if we had presented in person. Our use of polling and breakout sessions provided a way for our clients to interact with the material in a way that made the presentations interactive and received great feedback from participants.

We also made many of our Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) training programs virtual in 2020. This included training programs for Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) and Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs); hazardous waste management/Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) training for hazardous waste generators; US Department of Transportation (DOT) hazardous materials training; and aspects of OSHA general industry programs including confined space awareness and fork-lift safety training.  For example, working with one of our hydropower clients, we were able to develop and deliver training for facilities located across nine states into a single virtual interactive training session that addressed both federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit compliance and SPCC programs, as well as state-specific oil spill reporting and permitting requirements.

We also evolved how we conduct EHS compliance audits and SPCC inspections at facilities located throughout the country. Recently, we completed six virtual EHS compliance audits for an industrial client with facilities in four different states and completed 14 facility SPCC inspections for another industrial client with facilities across New England.  By working closely with our clients and going virtual, we saved an average of four to five hours per audit and saved hours of travel costs for our clients!

Verdantas’s commitment to being innovative and versatile, and our development of interactive virtual training and auditing systems allowed us to provide our clients with safe and effective services in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Equally importantly, our ability to deliver high-value, interactive virtual training programs, and auditing services to our clients across multiple facilities at once without travel expenses has resulted in considerable cost savings to our clients during this time of uncertainty.    For more information or to talk with us about a training that your organization may benefit from or ways Verdantas can help you take your compliance and auditing needs virtual, please reach out.

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