Capitol Aggregates bolsters their compliance assurance

With limited EHS resources and a growing number of manufacturing facilities and quarries throughout Texas, Capitol Aggregates, a privately owned cement company, realized it was time to implement a compliance management solution. Paul Detterline was part of the team tasked with evaluating and selecting a solution that was fit for purpose.

A former and early user of Dakota’s Auditor application, Paul reengaged with Dakota following an industry conference and learned how the same applicability analysis engine that makes Auditor so unique is used in Dakota Profiler to create forward-looking compliance plans. He brought Dakota to the team to be considered in the evaluation.

The team liked that Dakota’s flexible pricing model did not limit users who could access the system, nor did it charge for features that they weren’t interested in. The biggest selling point, however, was the regulatory database and the applicability analysis tools for building, and keeping current, their compliance calendars. They selected Dakota at the end of 2017 and implemented through the first quarter of 2018.

To begin, Paul worked with Dakota and a third-party consultant to create compliance plans for their quarries, where site leaders don’t have environmental backgrounds. The EHS team documented their compliance obligations in Profiler as to retain the EHS team’s institutional knowledge. They then created and scheduled tasks, assigned by roles, to the various sites. Site users execute these tasks in Tracer with guidance from Dakota’s reference library when needed and the EHS team tracks completion of tasks using interactive dashboards and reports. Paul likes how the escalating email alerts warn them of pending and overdue tasks.

“Now, we’re not missing deadlines.”

Leveraging the site profiles, the EHS team has also begun to conduct compliance audits in Auditor and tracking audit findings centrally in Tracer. They are also now incorporating their permit requirements into Profiler. Less than one year after launch, Paul states that they accomplished their primary goals of centralizing their compliance program, documenting their obligations, and dramatically improving their visibility into issues. Most importantly, they have improved their confidence in their compliance assurance program.