Building a Scalable Environmental, Health and Safety Operating Model Across a Growing Data Center Portfolio

A rapidly expanding data center client operates a broad footprint of data center, cloud and interconnection services across multiple U.S. metros and international locations. Growing quickly through acquisitions, pressure built to harmonize and unify EHS reporting systems across the consolidated company. As they modernized environmental, health and safety processes, the emergent priority was straightforward: run consistent compliance processes and create centralized visibility into EHS data that operating teams could trust.

Our client’s priorities were then twofold. First, they needed to select an environmental, health and safety management information system (EMIS) vendor by comparing vendors’ capabilities against their real use cases. Once selected, the client then needed to get the system deployed, integrated and populated with their regulatory content including scheduled and assigned operational tasks. They also needed to do this within a very ambitious timeline and budget.

Initially, the Onterris EHS consulting team support strengthened the compliance management framework around the system. Work included developing 30+ environmental and safety procedures, preparing operational controls aligned with ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 and supporting permitting and planning deliverables such as air permits and Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) plans, plus corrective action support following internal audits.

Next, the EMIS team reviewed the data generated from the EHS program to help define the capabilities and reporting the client would need to do and track in an EHS software. Another core deliverable centered on permit deconstruction: taking complex regulatory language and converting it into clear, actionable tasks with schedules and accountability assignments. This step mattered because EMIS value shows up in daily execution. The system needs accurate, current content so operating teams know what to do, when to do it and how to document completion.

Onterris embedded alongside client stakeholders early during the software selection process, acting as a structured sounding board through requirement definition, use case articulation, vendor identification and comparison. The focus was on narrowing vendors to only those that met the client’s defined requirements, giving internal champions a well-vetted short list for evaluation.

Per the National Association for Environmental, Health, Safety, and Sustainability Management (NAEM) 2017 Buyer’s Guide, nearly 75% of EMIS buyers take more than 6 months to choose a digital solution. Onterris’s integrated approach created a cleaner handoff from evaluation into selection and implementation. Requirements did not live as a static spreadsheet. The team shaped them into a practical foundation for configuration priorities, testing and training plans.

The client selected, implemented and operationalized an EMIS that integrated into a maturing program, supported by advisory continuity from selection through rollout. Stakeholders described the EMIS deployment as record time and within budget. From scoping discussions to implementation of the first software module took the Client-Onterris team only two months. Stakeholders reported clearer decision-making, clarified regulatory applicability and an accelerated project timeline. The work also simplified system design to minimize long-term system costs and support user adoption, with stronger alignment across EHS, operational leadership and technology teams.

Today, the engagement stands as a repeatable model for any clients, data centers and beyond, who need both: a digital system that drives consistent execution and the program content that makes the system usable in the field.