About Russell Carr

How A Sales Guy Transformed Into An Environmental, Health & Safety Expert & Advocate For Small Businesses I've spent my entire 30+ year career working within the manufacturing and “industrial services” sectors. The first 15 years of my career focused on sales of hazardous materials related products and services to the manufacturing sector, then for the last 16+ years transitioned into entrepreneurship, founding 3 small industrial services related contracting businesses. As you’ll see below, running these companies eventually lead me to found yet a 4th business, but more on that in a minute…. Here’s a brief description of the first 3 companies: Berg Environmental Services, Inc.: hazardous waste disposal & transportation services, founded in August of 2003 3rd party wind energy operations & maintenance services provider to utility scale wind farms throughout the US, founded in September 2007 3rd party oil & gas exploration & production services provider, founded in August of 2011 Each of these companies operated in extremely dangerous working conditions and exposed my employees to a wide range of serious health & safety hazards on a daily basis. To complicate matters, 2 of the companies also exposed the environment to significant potential harm. In other words, I learned very early the critical importance of managing environmental, health and safety issues so as to ensure the safety of our employees and the environment, as well as minimizing related risks. But I also learned how incredibly difficult and challenging this endeavor can be due to the wide range of complicated and continually changing environmental, health and safety rules and regulations that impacted the companies. To summarize the challenges: First I had to determine which regulations applied to each company, then I had to build compliance programs to meet those regulations, and finally I had to ensure that the programs were being managed and followed by our staff on a daily basis. All while trying to run and grow 3 profitable businesses…. It was overwhelming and I always struggled to keep up. To make matters worse, throughout this time I also witnessed the devastating price that companies, management and ownership can pay for failing to manage EHS compliance. This included seeing one of my hazardous waste management clients get sent to jail over environmental issues, another client’s management team threatened with jail time, a direct competitor get fined $378,000 by OSHA fine after an employee was nearly killed, and many others face major fines and penalties. Full disclosure, one of my companies got fined by OSHA at one point, & another was cited by TCEQ, so I know how it feels. In summary, I learned first hand how incredibly difficult it is for small companies to manage EHS compliance due to a common lack of the critical expertise, time and resources that are needed to keep up, and how this situation then ends up exposing them to these potentially catastrophic risks that can literally destroy lives and businesses. This later inspired me to found my 4th company, Berg Compliance Solutions in 2012, which is dedicated to helping other small businesses, and business owners, to manage EHS compliance and risk. Education BA, Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder, December, 1990. Summary of Professional Experience & Qualifications: 30+ years serving the manufacturing & industrial services sectors 30+ years of sales and marketing experience 16+ years as small business owner & entrepreneur: Founded and operated 4 small businesses since 2003. Environmental, Health & Safety Compliance & Program Related: 19 plus years of hazardous waste management including EPA, TCEQ & RCRA regulations 8 years of DOT/FMCSA compliance experience, including hazardous materials transportation 8 years of combined experience implementing and managing OSHA health and safety compliance programs for 2 high risk energy services businesses Successfully implemented and gained ISO 9001 Quality Management Certification and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health & Safety Advisory Service) Certification for wind energy maintenance business. Regulatory Enforcement Related Experience: Served as expert witness in criminal environmental compliance enforcement cases Superfund-CERCLA OSHA enforcement inspections, investigations and resolution in following industries: industrial services, manufacturing & construction. TCEQ enforcement inspections, investigations and resolution in manufacturing.

How to Hire and Retain a Manufacturing Safety Manager

How to Hire a Full Time Safety Manager, If You've Never Done It Before Are you a manufacturer thinking about bringing on your first full-time safety manager? If so, hold on a minute, because finding and retaining a skilled, effective safety manager who will actually perform & deliver ISN’T easy, especially if this is your first try. The truth is that the odds are frequently and heavily stacked against you. As the saying goes, “buyer beware,” and that’s especially true [...]

By |2024-11-21T14:33:54-05:00November 21st, 2024|Good To Know, OSHA Health & Safety, OSHA Texas Laws & Regulations, Safety Training, Texas OSHA Compliance|Comments Off on How to Hire and Retain a Manufacturing Safety Manager

OSHA’s FABMETSH Program is Targeting Metal Fabricators in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico and Louisiana

Get Our FREE Fabmetsh Preparation Checklist By Clicking Below REQUEST NOW Below is a transcript of the video: Hello and welcome. Alright, so I put together this video to let you know that OSHA just renewed their enforcement program that's targeting metal fabricators in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arkansas until 2027. And to let you know that they're already hitting companies in issuing fines that are literally running into the tens and sometimes even hundreds [...]

By |2024-10-06T18:27:13-05:00October 6th, 2024|Good To Know|Comments Off on OSHA’s FABMETSH Program is Targeting Metal Fabricators in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico and Louisiana

OSHA Issues 2024 Heat Stress Standard

Summary of OSHA's Proposed Heat Stress Standard 2024 OSHA has released its long awaited, proposed Heat Stress standard.   Keep in mind that this isn’t a law (yet), but if passed, it will create significant and complicated new requirements for employers who’s operations expose employees to excessive heat. Why Has OSHA Released the Proposed Heat Stress Standard? Let’s begin by reviewing why heat stress is so dangerous and therefore, why OSHA is trying to pass this proposed law. Heat exposure is [...]

By |2024-07-22T11:26:36-05:00July 22nd, 2024|Good To Know, Government Regulation, OSHA Health & Safety, OSHA Texas Laws & Regulations, Safety Training, Texas OSHA Compliance|Comments Off on OSHA Issues 2024 Heat Stress Standard

Why Your Company Needs a Safety Policy Statement

How to Create a Company Safety Policy Your very first step towards safety. If you’re trying to start a safety program from scratch - you’re probably feeling very overwhelmed. This is completely normal, and many of my clients express the same feelings to me. They just don’t know where to start. Even with a guide at their side, there’s just too much information to process all at once. So I’m going to give you the perfect starting point. You’re going [...]

By |2024-06-05T18:37:54-05:00June 5th, 2024|OSHA Health & Safety, OSHA Texas Laws & Regulations, Safety Training, Texas OSHA Compliance|Comments Off on Why Your Company Needs a Safety Policy Statement

EHS Compliance Case Study Success Story

LEARN HOW WE HELPED THIS SMALL MANUFACTURER ACHIEVE FULL ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH AND SAFETY COMPLIANCE IN LESS THAN 1 YEAR (AT A FRACTION OF THE COST OF HIRING A FULL TIME EHS MANAGER) Below is a transcript of our case study video.  Click Here to gain instant access to the video. Introduction: Hello everyone. Russell Carr here, founder of Bird Compliance Solutions, and in this case study video I'm going to explain to you how we helped a small Texas manufacturer [...]

By |2024-04-25T11:12:51-05:00April 25th, 2024|Hazardous Waste Management, OSHA Health & Safety, OSHA Texas Laws & Regulations, Safety Training, Testimonials, Texas OSHA Compliance|Comments Off on EHS Compliance Case Study Success Story

How to Build a Hazard Communication Program for Manufacturing

How to Develop a Foolproof Manufacturing HazCom Program If you’ve ever heard someone yell “Fore!” on the golf course, you’ve had a front row seat for hazard communication. But when communicating about potential dangers, the stakes are far higher in your manufacturing plant; there, workers are likely to encounter potentially deadly chemicals or debilitating levels of heat or noise. That’s why an airtight Hazard Communication Program is absolutely crucial to health and safety in manufacturing. Read on for guidance on [...]

By |2024-04-04T12:41:34-05:00April 4th, 2024|OSHA Health & Safety, OSHA Texas Laws & Regulations, Safety Training, Texas Hazardous Materials Regulations|Comments Off on How to Build a Hazard Communication Program for Manufacturing