Introduction: 

US Environment Health and Safety (EHS) training managers have a never-ending challenge on their hands ‒ keeping up with changing regulations, while making sure employees are as safe, well-informed and compliant as possible. The regulatory environment is broad, including OSHA regulations, EPA rules, hazardous material transportation and fire protection codes. 

For training managers, the challenge is to tap into the right authoritative regulatory resources and be able to translate them in effective training programs. By integrating your Learning Management System (LMS) and compliance training strategy with the above trustworthy sources, you’ll not only mitigate risk but also enhance your audit readiness and operational resilience. 

In this blog, we’ll focus on the 10 best regulatory resources that every EHS training manager should have bookmarked and explain how to use them for building role-based, compliant-ready courses. 

 

Check out 10 Regulatory Resources 

1) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Training & Standards 

Why use it:  

OSHA is the main federal authority for workplace safety and has established standards indicating what training is required (for instance, HAZWOPER, lockout/tagout, fall protection), has developed outreach materials, and has established training programs and educational centers, you will want to align with their curricula. You may want to use OSHA’s QuickCards and training pages to create short microlearning modules and supplemental materials for employee updates.  

How to incorporate it in training: 

Map required training items to the LMS as required courses, and automatically enroll employees based on job role. Allow for evidence in a central location (attendance, quiz scores, certifications). When OSHA indicates minimums, exceed them by designing scenario-based simulations. 

 

2) EPA — RMP, EPCRA, RCRA and Hazardous Waste Guidance 

Reason to use: 

If your facility uses regulated chemicals, the Risk Management Program (RMP, 40 CFR Part 68), Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) create legal training requirements and recordkeeping obligations. The EPA has provided guidance and standalone modules for regulated facilities. This should meet your needs for compliance-based training tracks.  

How to incorporate it in training: 

Develop role-specific RMP and EPCRA modules (process owners, emergency responders, environmental staff, etc.). If your LMS has a place for assessments, consider using EPA checklists for training. Attach relevant Safety Data Sheets to each course and keep them managed in the CloudSDS program for immediate reference. 

 

3) NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards (NPG)  

Why to use this:  

The NIOSH Pocket Guide is the quick reference to chemical properties, exposure limits, personal protective equipment recommendations, and basic industrial hygiene controls: the kind of information your trainers and your medical/industrial hygiene partner use every day. It is brief, searchable, and often used for job-hazard briefings.  

How to incorporate it into training: 

 Incorporate links from the NIOSH site or short excerpts into your LMS hazard modules. You can also use the NIOSH page source to create hazard profiles for your CloudSDS inventory and then auto-assign task-specific training (e.g., handling specific solvents and powders). 

 

4) NFPA (National Fire Protection Association)  

Reason to follow:  

The NFPA standards, most notably NFPA 70E (Electrical Safety in the Workplace), are the standards used to safely work on or near energized equipment. NFPA Standards are often used by OSHA in enforcement and are essential to electrical safety training and arc-flash PPE program, as well as safe work permitting.  

How to use in training:  

Build practical electrical safety courses that are aligned to NFPA 70E tables, arc-flash boundary calculations, and PPE selection. Combine NFPA-based eLearning with hands-on competencies that are documented back in your LMS. 

 

5) DOT / PHMSA—Hazardous Materials Transportation & Hazmat Training  

Why it matters: If your company is shipping or receiving hazardous materials, Title 49 CFR and PHMSA training requirements are applicable. PHMSA provides training modules and outlines hazardous material employee training requirements, and it includes function-specific training, security awareness training, and recurrent training cycles.  

How you can apply it in training: Maintain a hazmat training matrix by role and by route (shipping, receiving, drivers). And you can leverage PHMSA guidance to create certification workflows in your Learning Management System (LMS) and store hazardous material training records to provide to carrier audits and sometimes DOT inspections. 

 

6) OSHA HAZWOPER Standard (29 CFR 1910.120)  

Emergency Response & Cleanup Rationale:  

HAZWOPER addresses training for hazardous waste operations and emergency response. HAZWOPER provides mandated training hours, medical surveillance considerations, the need for site-specific requirements, among other items. HAZWOPER training is a legal minimum for many of the response teams and contractors employed.  

 

OSHA Application in Training: 

Retrain on HAZWOPER levels (24-, 40-, 8-hour refresher) and maintain competency checklists in LSM. Contract responders should upload certificates, and drill scenarios should be included in annual training calendars. 

 

7) ANSI / ASSP Standards (i.e., Z10) & ISO 45001 — OSH Management Systems  

Why utilize it:  

ANSI and ASSP Standards (i.e., Z10) and ISO 45001 offer useful and applicable frameworks for an occupational safety management system — critical for creating compliance programs that can be auditable and continuous-improvement labeled. In addition, ANSI and ASSP Standards may provide opportunities for training managers to justify the expenditure of a learning pathway and tailor training metrics to system performance metrics.  

 How to apply in training: 

Connect training KPIs back to management system objectives (e.g., incident rate reductions, audit findings closed). In addition, identify and leverage the worker participation and competence clauses within the standard to help build worker-led training content and competency verification. 

 

8) FEMA and Local Emergency Management (NIMS, EMI)  

Reason to follow it: 

 FEMA education training (EMI, NIMS) and Ready Business resources are important to continuity of workplace operations, integration of incident command, and coordination in the community. If your facilities may have a significant consequence offsite, you’ll gain a larger emergency management education context together with exercise resource through FEMA courses. 

How to utilize it in training: 

 Consider integrating an awareness module on ICS/NIMS and site-specific emergency response training. Use FEMA exercise templates, conduct an exercise annually, and use your LMS action trackers to capture action items for improvement. 

 

9) State OSHA Plans, State Environmental Agencies & Local LEPCs 

 Why be sure to follow it:  

About 22 states have OSHA-approved state plans; some state standards and enforcement policies are not identical with federal OSHA standards. Environmental state agencies also typically have air, waste, and spill regulations that are stricter than federal regulations. Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCS) set requirements for planning and reporting at the community level through EPCRA based requirements, and they are also important for notification and drills in the community. 

 How to utilize it in training:  

Subscribe to your state agency updates, add state regulatory modules for state plan jurisdiction, and coordinate tabletop exercises with LEPCS to ensure community response in exercise is aligned with community needs. 

 

10) Standards and Authorities, Professional Associations and Vendor Guidance  

Why to follow it:  

Professional Associations (ASSP, AIHA), standards publishers (ASTM), and equipment/chemical manufacturers guidance are typically rich with technical guidance, whitepapers with best practices, and templates for training. Similarly, new and established platforms such as SDS/SDS management systems (CloudSDS), and LMS vendors give the ability to auto-generate training assignments with product specific controls and label development (as applicable with OSHA/GHS), and the ability to automatically link controls and training with SDS content. 

How to use it in training:  

Use manufacturer SDSs and CloudSDS to auto-populate training course content to new materials (GHS hazards, PPE). Pull association whitepapers into leadership training and use standardized checklists for assessment (as provided by AIHA/ASSP for example) for audits and on-the job training evaluation. 

 

Practical Checklist for EHS Training Managers  

1. Map regulations to roles  

EHS managers must create a compliance matrix (OSHA, EPA, PHMSA, state rules) and link to LMS course IDs. 

2. Auto-enroll & certify 

EHS training managers and LMS managers must use role-based enrollments and automated re-certification reminders. 

3. Attach source docs  

EHS compliance officers should link each course to the authoritative regulation/SDS (NIOSH Pocket Guide, EPA guidance, OSHA standard).  

4. Evidence and audit trails  

LMS administrator and EHS managers should store completion records, assessment results, and certificates for at least the retention period required by the applicable rule. 

5. Drills + exercises  

EHS program manager must use FEMA/EPCRA templates to schedule real drills and import outcomes to your LMS improvement plan.  

 

Staying Up-dated and Audit-Ready 

1. Subscribe to RSS/alerts  

Compliance managers can subscribe to RSS/ alerts from OSHA, EPA RMP, PHMSA, and NIOSH, this regulatory guidance can change, and training must follow. 

2.Version control your training  

LMS administrator and EHS training manager can date-stamp every module and keep previous versions for audit trails. 

3. Use layered learning  

EHS program managers can combine short microlearning (QuickCards), interactive eLearning, and hands-on competency checks. OSHA Quick Cards and NIOSH guides are great for microcontent. 

4. Integrate SDS management  

EHS data manager can link SDSs from CloudSDS to tasks, so training pops when a new chemical is added or a GHS update occurs. That ensures immediate, targeted training triggered by inventory changes. 

 

Conclusion 

In the constantly changing world of environmental, health, and safety (EHS) compliance, being informed is not a luxury; it is a necessity. The regulatory agencies and resources listed above are the bedrock for any EHS training manager who wishes to maintain a safe, compliant and effective workplace. From OSHA’s workplace safety requirements to the EPA’s environmental policies to NIOSH’s research-based knowledge, these resources provide the latest updates, compliance tools and training materials to keep your organization audit-ready and risk-free.  

By frequently reviewing these foundational resources—subscribing for alerts, attending webinars and incorporating their updates into your Learning Management System (LMS)—EHS managers can convert compliance from a reactive task into a proactive safety culture. To cut to the chase, being informed in EHS management is more than compliance to the rules, it is about leading from the forefront with knowledge, foresight and accountability of every aspect of workplace safety.