Most EHS teams are stuck at Level 2.
Here's why:
The most common EHS compliance failure isn't missing a regulation. It's not knowing which to prioritize for your specific sites. That's a maturity problem (and you can fix it).
From fragmented compliance to predictive intelligence
Use this five-level EHS Regulatory Intelligence Maturity Model to see where EHS programs typically sit, what holds them back at each stage, and what it takes to advance.
Where does your EHS program sit?
Each answer scores 1 to 4. Your total maps your program to one of the five levels and shows the specific gap between where you are and the next stage.
Want your result and the level-up guide by email? We'll send your score, your level breakdown, and what moves teams to the next stage.
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>> THE RISK "A restricted substance in a product we should have caught — triggering a delay, recall or market access ban." Testing confirms presence. It doesn't tell you where in the supply chain the PFAS came from, which products are affected, or which incoming restriction you haven't planned for yet. Most programs have a gap in at least one of those three places. |
>> WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE "One cohesive program that tells us exactly where our non-compliance risks are — before they become problems." Knowing: what's regulated, what's in your products, and what's coming… before anyone else tells you. The key to success is navigating changing chemical regulations. |
The five levels in detail
What each stage looks like, what holds teams there, and what moves them forward. Complete the assessment above and your level opens automatically.
Every site runs its own compliance process. Regulatory tracking is a mix of government websites, consultant alerts, and personal memory. No central view, no consistent methodology, no way to know what you're missing.
Teams at Level 1 are working hard - the problem is structural, not effort.
What holds teams here
- Local managers resist central oversight
- No budget case - compliance is "handled"
- No single definition of what "compliant" means globally
What moves teams forward
- A forcing event - accident, M&A, failed audit, enforcement action
- A single jurisdiction or topic used as a proof-of-concept for centralization
- Making the cost of fragmentation visible - duplicated effort, cost of prevention over repair
- A VP mandate to standardize compliance reporting
Most multi-site EHS teams live here. There's a platform, alerts are running, jurisdictional coverage is reasonable. The problem: visibility and actionability aren't the same thing. The database shows regulations - it doesn't show compliance status at the site level or what action is required when something changes.
Level 2 teams know what's happening, but they can't always translate that into "therefore site X needs to do Y by date Z." This is also where false confidence is highest.
What holds teams here
- Applicability is done manually - the biggest capacity drain in EHS compliance
- Alert fatigue: when everything triggers a notification, nothing gets acted on
- Central team has visibility; site teams don't use the data operationally
- No direct link from regulatory data to tasks, deadlines, or audit trails
What moves teams forward
- Solving applicability at scale - knowing what applies to which specific sites
- Rebuilding change alert triage so significance is assessed, not just forwarded
- Connecting central and site layers so site managers can act without translation
Level 3 is where compliance starts to feel like a managed program rather than emergency response. The team knows not just what's changing but what's changing that affects their sites. Change alerts come with context. Audits are supported by structured data. Teams spend more time acting than researching.
The gap to Level 4 is subtler: Level 3 teams respond well when things change. Level 4 teams position themselves ahead of change.
What holds teams here
- No structured process for tracking proposed or consulted regulations - only enacted ones
- EHS, ESG, and product compliance still in separate systems
- Taxonomy inconsistency across sites makes global benchmarking fragile
What moves teams forward
- Expert interpretation as a standard input - not just the regulation text, but what it means for your operations
- A taxonomy harmonization exercise across all sites
- CSRD or ESG mandate that forces integration of compliance data across domains
Compliance is operationally embedded. The team advises the business - on new market entries, on M&A, on capital investment. They can tell the board how compliance posture compares to peers. Global and local views are reconciled into a single source of truth. The team doesn't translate local data into central reports - that happens automatically.
What Level 4 teams still lack is forward visibility at scale. They respond to proposed regulations when they surface. At that point, Level 5 teams have already modeled the implications.
What holds teams here
- Horizon scanning requires dedicated specialist resource most teams can't carve out
- AI-generated regulatory summaries are unreliable without expert validation
- Regulatory divergence is accelerating - a single defensible global position is increasingly complex to maintain
What moves teams forward
- Structured horizon scanning - proposals, consultation papers, enforcement signals - not just enacted changes
- Human expert validation layered on algorithmic intelligence
- Role-based intelligence - VPs, site managers, and auditors seeing different cuts of the same data
Level 5 teams are managing regulatory confidence, not compliance. They know what's coming, they're positioned for it, and they can demonstrate that positioning to the board and to regulators. AI-accelerated horizon scanning identifies signals weeks or months before they crystallize into requirements.
The distinguishing feature isn't technology - it's the expert validation layer that makes AI-generated intelligence defensible. Most organizations get here by solving each preceding level in order, not by planning for Level 5 from the start.
Leveling up your compliance program means implementing the right discipline
The difference keeping most teams at Level 2 is almost always the applicability problem - knowing not just what's changing but what's changing that actually applies to your specific sites. Teams that solve this step move through Levels 3, 4, and 5 progressively faster. Teams that skip it build increasingly elaborate systems that still produce reactive compliance.
Identify
Know which EHS requirements actually apply to your sites - across 400+ jurisdictions, filtered by facility type, operation, and jurisdiction.
Prioritize
Distinguish the changes that require action. Review by deadline, business impact, and jurisdiction - so your team focuses on what matters most.
Anticipate
Track proposals before they become law - new amendments, policies, guidance, and jurisprudence across your jurisdictions.
Tools that help you at every level
Two tools, one provider, working across the Identify → Prioritize → Anticipate sequence. Both built on the same logic: know what applies to your specific sites first, then act on what matters, then see what's coming before it arrives.
Compliance Intelligence
Your full regulatory picture filtered to what applies - site by site. Legal obligations written in plain operational language, compliance status tracked, revalidation flags when regulation changes.
- Applicability filtering by facility type, substance, and operation
- Easy-to-action obligations: who must do what, and when
- Compliance dashboard - global to site level
Regulatory Forecaster
Forward-looking horizon scan across your jurisdictions and topics. Pre-ranked by impact before you log in. Set filters once and receive automatic alerts - so your team has runway to prepare, not catch up.
- Risk-ranked regulatory changes
- Filter by jurisdiction, topic, and implementation timeline
- Proposal-to-in-force tracking with business impact analysis
Trusted by global enterprises
Ready to move up a level?
Find out what's holding your program back from proactive regulatory change management. Schedule a call with our team.
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