Your environmental compliance team has been through a lot of change over the past few years. The 2005 Energy Policy Act is fully in place and that means increased UST regulations and added another layer of complexity for many high-performing environmental compliance teams. Turbulent economic challenges and a global pandemic also means some teams are under-staffed, having to accomplish more with fewer resources. As if that wasn’t enough, the pandemic also changed many inspectors’ habits, leading to more fines and raising the stakes for understaffed teams. 

Ultimately, this adds up to an industry facing new and increasing challenges. That’s left some environmental teams scrambling to stay up to date. But under these same challenging circumstances, some teams aren’t just surviving, they’re thriving. 

So what separates high-performing environmental teams from their competitors? At Titan Cloud, we work with high-performing teams every day and we’ve noticed that the most successful teams have a few things in common. 

Here, we share the 4 most common practices that differentiates high-performing teams from the rest. Best of all, you can implement these tactics right away.

1. They are consistent and proactive when it comes to alerts.

Too often, operators are reactive to problems instead of proactive, but high-performing environmental teams stay ahead of major problems by fixing small ones.

With all the literal noise from beeping ATGs and other alerts, teams often jump from one emergency to the next without leaving any time or resources for non-emergent problems. However, high-performing teams are able to break this cycle and devote time and energy to fixing minor problems before they become major ones. They’re able to operate this efficiently because they’re consistent. They bake in time to perform visual inspections regularly, even if there isn’t an operator on site requiring it.

Become a high-performing team by proactively and consistently looking at release detection alerts, inventory variance trends, etc. to head off issues before they become headline-making problems.

2. Local operators are trained to respond to ATG alarms and they follow through.

ATGs constantly send alarms. Frequently these alarms are just informational and, as a result, local operators ignore them until ignoring an alarm becomes the standard operating procedure. 

Until a show-stopping event occurs, that is. Too often, crucial alarms get lost in the noise.

But high-performing teams do things differently. Their operators are trained to respond to ATG alarms and already have a plan in place for anything that requires corrective action. These operators know what to do, how to do it, and who to contact in their chain of command. 

When an event occurs that needs attention, high-performing environmental teams spot it and act on it right away, making a quick fix far more likely than if the problem had been allowed to progress. 

3. They keep meticulous electronic records.

High-performing environmental teams file notes electronically and follow-up quickly to get first-time fixes. They don’t waste valuable time hunting through filing cabinets, shoeboxes, or spreadsheets.

The information they need—operator classifications, warranties, records of action, NOVs, etc.—is available digitally to their internal teams and to operators and vendors. These files are often kept together in the same portal, with each component linking to the next. 

High-performing environmental teams don’t worry that the same problems will keep showing up during inspections, creating a paper-trail of inaction to be flagged by inspectors.

Instead, they have clear documentation from problem to solution that everyone can follow, be it an inspector, a boss, or vendors.

4. They’re in control of their vendors and their vendors’ records.

Speaking of vendors, many teams these days use 3rd party inspectors and wouldn’t be able to fulfill their obligations without them. Almost all 3rd party vendors use their individual app which can create more problems:  

• The apps don’t communicate with other apps or share data with other point solutions and other operators.
• You have to keep track of several different apps and remember what information is located where.
• Your operators are at the mercy of 3rd parties to meet compliance dates.
• Vendors have to send individual emails or summarize exceptions on a spreadsheet which then has to be manually transferred to internal systems.

These various apps and associated issues are a major headache. Some teams accept them as the price of doing business with 3rd party vendors, but not the high-performing teams. 

Instead of several point solutions with limited visibility, they opt for a single platform where everyone has access to the information they need. These teams are able to standardize their processes—and no, the processes don’t include shoeboxes or manually entering data you already have. Instead, technology populates that information for them.

Wrap up

Even with increasing regulations and decreasing resources, some environmental teams are performing better than ever. They’ve found an efficient solution that allows them to work smarter and save time and money: digitization. The above characteristics are easily accomplished with the right digital tools. 

Technology allows you to cut down on timely—not to mention error-prone—manual processes and start automating repetitive tasks. Too many teams still consider manual processes and paperwork problems unavoidable. An all-in-one platform, on the other hand, allows all of your teams and even your vendors to access the most important information from the same source.

You could be operating more efficiently. Your competitors might already be. If you’re interested in becoming a high-performing environmental team, contact us and our team will be ready to help.

Apps are available to download for both Apple and Android devices and connect to Titan’s complete inspection cloud platform.

The manager begins by setting up the inspections you want performed. Then, inspectors open the app and are taken to a list of the facilities the manager has given them to inspect.

To ensure compliance, the app includes free access to a library containing all accepted state forms and PEI forms, which apply to states that have not yet adopted their own forms. This means you’ll always meet compliance requirements, with new state forms automatically added as states adopt them. Even better, all completed inspections are published on approved state PDFs for paperless compliance reporting that’s as fast as it is easy.

Operators can set up a new inspection by selecting “add new” and then choosing the inspection they desire completed by field personnel or vendors. Simply select the date of the inspection and your Inspector will automatically be filled in based on the list you’ve set up to perform these inspections. Select “add new” again and the inspection is created. 

You have the ability to require specific fields and attachments, so no inspection can be scored until all forms are filled. You have the option to score results as pass/fail or on a weighted scale.

Information is pulled from your site data in the Titan platform, including facility-specific information like tanks, lines, dispensers, canopies, sumps, and ATGs. This ensures inspectors see and inspect what equipment is actually installed at your sites, increasing both the accuracy and efficiency of your inspection process. 

Once a user has been set up in the inspection app, they can work online providing you with real-time results, or if no internet is available, they can perform inspections offline and sync when the inspection is completed and internet is available.

The types of inspections you can do with Titan are as flexible and versatile as your business needs. Forms in the inspection library are not limited to EPA and PEI inspections since you can configure virtually any form or inspection type you want performed, including 30-day walk-throughs, spill bucket inspections, big oil brand or secret shopper inspections, clean bathroom inspections, fleet inspections and so on. You can even set up an optional approval process if you so choose.

Completed inspections are accessible as mapped PDFs in both the Advanced Facility Inspection App and the Titan platform. And because it’s a cloud platform, you can include as many videos, documents, and photos without worrying about possibly running out of space.

Titan’s management dashboard allows users to manage the inspection process, offering complete visibility into what inspections have been completed and which have not in any given month. 

Additionally, you’ll be notified of deficiencies, inspection statuses or stages, trends, and even the root causes of any recurring problems. You can even set up a workflow with notifications to help users and staff track all issues to resolution—even linking to work orders for full maintenance resolution management.

Inspectors have the flexibility to open previously started inspections, start new inspections, or look at completed inspections from the app. Leading convenience stores have used Titan’s inspection app to perform more than 8,000 fuel facility walk-through inspections each month for over 5 years, making is the #1 inspection app in the fuel industry.

If you’d like to learn more about Titan Cloud Software’s Advanced Inspection Platform and Apps, please reach out today to set up a demo.

There’s a saying in life: If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll only get what you’ve always got. If you’ve been tracking fuel tank inspections with pen and paper, then you can expect the same inefficient workflows and cumbersome compliance reporting.

If the people who have been going from site to site and tank to tank with pen and paper only knew they could be conducting inspections with digital tools. With mobile inspections software tools, customers can replace dozens of manual processes with one software tool  that enables efficient, on-the-go data capture.

You already understand the importance of accurate information. The wrong data or a faulty tool could potentially cost you thousands of dollars in downtime, environmental fines, or more. Inspecting your fuel tanks one by one is actually more likely to produce errors than when you utilize digital tools. 

We’re here to help you save time and improve accuracy while remaining—and even improving—compliant. Here are some fuel tank inspection recommendations that utilize technology in order to keep your inspections as efficient as possible.

Underground Fuel Tank Inspection Basics

Conduct a visual inspection with a mobile form. You should perform visual inspections of your fuel tanks regularly—but are you doing it thoroughly, consistently, and accurately every time? Using a mobile form, you can be sure that your inspectors are looking for the right things every time and not missing anything. A mobile form will guide your inspectors to look for signs of corrosion, cracks, and leaks in all the highest risk places so you don’t miss anything if an inspector is in a hurry or inexperienced.

Our environmental software automates access to all required state and PEI forms in a central hub and stores all documentation for as long as you want or need. Titan also adds new forms as states adopt them so you’ll always work from the most current regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the states that enforce UST rules do require a walkthrough inspection every 30 days, and you are required to retain inspection records for at least three years. 

Reporting and record keeping. Depending on your UST, you’ll need to inspect various equipment associated with your storage tanks and keep written verification of equipment performance. Equipment manufacturers or installers provide this verification, but it’s the owners’ responsibility to maintain accurate and current records. If and when an inspector conducts an on-site inspection, you need to keep records that prove your facility or store meets certain requirements. 

This is a lot of information and paperwork to keep track of. However, the right technology makes it simple. Our platform operates as a virtual filing cabinet so you no longer have to search actual filing cabinets—or worse, shoeboxes—for the relevant paperwork. Instead, you can do a simple search on the platform and see everything you need in seconds. 

You can also keep track of vendors and work orders to make sure you’re fixing all notifications and alerts that pop up.

Wrap Up

With Titan’s facility management software, you can keep all the essential federal and state records stored in one place and ensure that inspectors see and inspect what’s installed at your site. You can connect all your fuel equipment to understand the root issues of your most valuable assets.

Our solutions represent the convergence of compliance, fuel analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT), setting a new standard for facilities with fuel.

Learn more about how Titan can streamline fuel inspections—and more.