We have received great feedback from auditors around the world and we are working hard to improve the application. In January 2011, we will be integrating the application with our web based service NimonikApp.ca which will allow you to upload your lists from Excel files and download them to the application. Should you have any specific feature requirements, please let us know here.

You can download the application and review it at the bottom of the following page:

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/ehsq-audit-and-verification/id393051659?mt=8

This database service will cost 1000$ per year for the hosting of up to 100 audit reports. Everyone who reviews us will receive a 350$ voucher towards any of our services.

In the next month we will be adding audit lists for ISO 27001, ISO FDIS 26000, Canadian Phase I Verification and ISO Z2010-10. Should you require other lists, please contact us.

More information on the application is available here: EHSQ Reporter – Audit, verify and check conformance on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

Environment Canada has already trained 43 new enforcement officers who have completed Basic Enforcement Training and will soon be deployed across the country – likely in the Fall.

It’s related to the Federal government’s push this year to increase fines and expand enforcement tools aimed at ensuring a greater respect of environmental laws and regulations. The government this year amended nine environmental laws to achieve this.

The enforcement officers are being given new powers to investigate cases. At the same time, the courts have new sentencing guidelines that ensure penalties reflect the gravity of offences.

The new rules also aim to deal with environmental offenders by:
* specifying aggravating factors, like causing damage to wildlife or environmental damage that is irreparable;
* allowing for the suspension and cancellation of their permits upon conviction;
* forcing corporate offenders to report convictions to shareholders; and
* mandating a public shaming of corporate offences on a public registry.

When it comes to canadian environmental laws, you have a few options.

First, you can consult government websites – they have the laws and some guidance. To simply gain access to legislation and standards, the people at Eco-Log and CCOHS offer good service at reasonable prices. To simply receive environmental law updates, you can subscribe to CERCN and Environmental Compliance Insider or various law firms’ newsletters.

For management tools for your legal register, you can handle it in excel or outsource it to a consulting firm.

Lastly, for explanations of existing laws, there are books by lawyers and publishing houses that deal with the big issues in the large jurisdictions.

However, the only service that offers all the above mentioned features (and much more) is Nimonik. On cost, we are competitive. I could break down the costs, but it becomes tricky as the formats differ (some services charge per province, others per user and others by topic); we try to keep it simple: monthly fees per province, federal information free and unlimited users – that’s it.

While the services mentioned above offer high-quality information, none have the dynamic functionality of Nimonik. Notably, with Nimonik you can create a legal register in a fraction of the time it normally takes – by relying on our topics on common environmental concerns. We then maintain that register for you, satisfying ISO 14001 4.3.2 Legal and Other Requirements. You can host permits with us, consult our centralized calendar and share best practices. I think Nimonik is the way to go, but then again, I may be a bit biased.

The city of Toronto has issued new reporting requirements for chemical releases to take effect in 2010. I have highlighted parts of this Globe and Mail article which summarizes the changes pretty well.

The thrust of the by-law is a lowering of reporting thresholds to 100 kg, placing many small and medium businesses within the reporting requirements. We will be issuing a more detailed bulletin within the NIMONIK.ca site to better help you understand this requirement.

To get you started here is a guide to understanding the “right to know” by-law, the information posted is till in draft form so will likely change in the weeks to come, we will keep you posted.

UK writer and consultant, Richard Susskind, considered by many to be the world’s pre-eminent legal futurist, is coming out with a new book, The End of Lawyers?, in December. It’s a sequel to his 1996 best-seller, The Future of Law, in which Susskind describes presciently how IT would radically change the practice of law and the administration of justice. Many of his projections came true, much to the despair of many a law firm managing partner.

At conferences around the world, Susskind is now describing a world in which, legal services are following an evolutionary trajectory from “bespoke” services —  meaning custom-made to the client’s specifications — to the systemization of services.

The problem with bespoke services is that it often involves reinventing the wheel over and over again. Consider the update of an environmental legal register. Hiring a junior lawyer at $200 an hour to do the work from scratch every time is not going to be cheap. But by moving from bespoke to systemization and packaged services, it’s possible to deliver much cheaper legal services.

This is not to say that a world without lawyers is upon us. Only that technology-based legal information can now be of service to those historically shut out of legal information sources — namely small and medium businesses.

Nimonik is among the new players from outside the legal industry using innovative and scalable ways to focus on latent needs in the marketplace. Using our online services, our clients can have a cheaper access to the law.

Another way in which technology is altering the delivery of legal services is by embedding law in processes, something Nimonik is trying to achieve by helping keep its clients’ environmental regulatory registers automatically up-to-date. The day isn’t far off when large-scale automation of environmental compliance will be possible.