According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, individuals born in the latter years of the baby boom (1957–1964) held an average of 12.9 jobs from ages 18 to 58. More recent data shows that younger workers tend to have much shorter job tenure, with a median of just a few years in early career stages. In other words, changing jobs is a normal part of modern working life. EHS professionals are no exception. Career growth, better compensation, family relocation, or the search for an employer with a better attitude toward safety culture are all valid reasons to change jobs.

However, while looking forward to future improvements, it is worth thinking about current safety, continuity, and professional reputation.

1. Information Security

Some people practically live at work: sending resumes, applying for loans, or writing personal emails from their work computer. I would not recommend doing that. But if, for any reason, you do store personal data on a work device, keep it in a separate folder. Before leaving, save what you need and remove it from the company computer. The same applies to paper documents.

Once, while going through a predecessor’s desk, I found a signed job offer. In another company, a specialist left behind an envelope with an unactivated credit card. Take these documents with you or shred them before you leave. It protects your privacy and prevents your personal information from becoming someone else’s problem or, worse, a security risk.

2. Personal Belongings

You may be surprised how much you accumulate at work: a raincoat, spare clothes, framed family photos and diplomas, vitamins, and personal safety tools such as a tape measure or hanging scale. In one company, I was gifted a chair for my anniversary. In another, my colleague kept a disassembled tent under the desk.

It is better to take these things home in advance or agree with colleagues who will take what. This is useful not only for decluttering, but also for protecting your belongings. Once, I kept a wonderful stapler at work, a gift from my father when I was still at university. On my last day, I found it on my colleague’s desk with her last name written on it in permanent marker. Apparently, she had liked it for a long time and decided to “claim” it in advance. For the next couple of years, I had to explain why my stapler had someone else’s name on it.

The last day is rarely the best time to decide what matters and what can be left behind.

3. Borrowed Items

Return tools, books, and anything else you borrowed from colleagues. This sounds obvious, but in the rush of leaving people sometimes forget, especially when the item is small.

Over time, people may forget that it was just a book or a small tool. What they may remember is that you left without returning something that was not yours. No one wants to be remembered that way.

4. Company Property

If you have first-aid cabinet keys, safety board keys, a screen remote, access cards, or other company items in your desk, hand them over to your manager or at least show where they are stored.

These small items can become surprisingly important when someone needs them quickly. A missing key or remote can delay routine work, an inspection, or even an emergency response.

5. Food in the Refrigerator

Please throw away your food from the refrigerator.

You know why.

6. Professional Continuity Matters

When a person resigns because of conflict with an employer, it can be tempting to think that the more chaotic the handover is, the worse it will be for the company. In reality, this is rarely true. In most cases, the person who suffers is not the employer but your colleague or successor.

In one company, I inherited complete chaos from a specialist who had worked there before me. For some time, I was completely lost while reviewing the documents left behind. Then I found a folder created by that person’s predecessor. It was a brilliant, systematic set of procedures and records that I could easily update. Later, I found that specialist on LinkedIn, and we still maintain a warm professional relationship. We have never met in person, but I would gladly recommend her as an excellent professional.

A good handover is not a favor to the company. It is part of your professional legacy.

7. Open issues

I believe the basic professional standard is to transfer all open inspections, incidents, corrective actions, and similar matters to your manager — preferably closed or as close to closure as possible.

If something occurs during the final days of employment, it is worth discussing whether your last day can be extended to complete the work properly. If that is not possible, then at minimum, you should work closely with your manager to review the status, risks, next steps, responsible parties, and deadlines, so the issue is not left unclear or unmanaged.

Such incidents leave the departing specialist with less time for routine handover tasks. In one case, a colleague told me that her company brought in a specialist from another department to conduct the investigation. I would consider this a good practice: a specialist not involved in the departure led the investigation while obtaining the necessary information from the departing employee.

8. Document Organization

Once, I spent a long time going through my predecessor’s folders trying to find documents. Almost all the folders were empty, and I could not understand where he kept everything he had worked on. The answer was simple: Everything was in the Desktop folder.

That may be convenient for one person, but it can become a nightmare for the next one.

Even if your company is not ISO-certified, I would recommend following the logic of a management system and organizing files into folders such as:

• Leadership

• Planning

• Hazard Assessment

• Training

• Communication

• Rules and Procedures

• Audits and Inspections

• Incident Investigation

• System Evaluation

If the company later decides to pursue certification, this structure will help. The same logic applies to paper records. A clear structure allows the next EHS professional to understand the system instead of rebuilding it from scratch.

9. Data Retention

Make sure your documents do not disappear after you leave. Many companies have IT backups, but if you are not sure, ask IT. Talk to your manager. They may assign someone to receive your archive temporarily, so you can transfer the data and explain where everything is located.

Lost EHS documents can create real problems: missed records, failed audits, repeated work, or compliance gaps that nobody notices until it is too late.

10. Contractor List

Prepare a list of contractors: fire extinguisher inspections, hazardous waste disposal, training providers, and any other recurring EHS services. In my lists, I include not only the company name, service description, and contact details, but also information needed for invoice processing and purchase requisitions.

This list will help the next specialist, but it will also help the company immediately if nobody is hired yet. Routine inspections, waste pickups, and trainings should not stop simply because one person left.

11. Internal Contacts

Make a list of key internal contacts and explain when to contact each person. In many companies, role distribution is not obvious. Who should receive invoices? Who can provide chemical purchasing data? Where can you get electricity consumption information?

A simple table can save the next specialist a great deal of time. This list should also identify who can provide or approve access to key systems, shared folders, SDS platforms, LMS, waste portals, reporting tools, and other resources the next person will need. 

Instead of wandering around the office and trying to identify the right people randomly, they can schedule meetings with key employees, introduce themselves, and agree on how information will be shared.

12. Compliance Calendar

A compliance calendar is a calendar of required deadlines: legal requirements, ISO 45001 requirements, and internal procedures. In my opinion, every company should have one. Even when it does not exist on paper, most EHS professionals keep it in their head.

However, I do not think the next specialist should simply inherit your calendar and follow it blindly. When a new EHS professional starts, it is useful for them to build their own calendar. This helps them review applicable laws, inventory available data, and identify gaps.

Still, the calendar must exist in writing. The company may need time to hire a replacement, and your manager needs to know which deadlines are coming so the organization does not miss important obligations or expose itself to penalties.

13. Farewell Communication

Some people like writing long farewell emails full of gratitude. Others prefer to leave quietly. Either way, you have business partners and colleagues who expect you to perform certain functions.

Write to them in advance and explain who will handle your responsibilities after you leave. Copy your manager. If possible, ask IT to forward your emails to the person covering your work. It is also useful to include the same information in your out-of-office message, activate it three or four days before your last day, and ask IT whether the account can remain functional until a new employee starts.

This is not just etiquette. It prevents missed communications with vendors, regulators, internal teams, and anyone else relying on the EHS function.

Final Thought

This list could be much longer, but in my opinion, this is the basic minimum. If you are thinking about changing jobs, start preparing in advance: remove clutter, organize your documents, create a contractor list, prepare a compliance calendar, close urgent issues and mentally draft a letter of gratitude.

You may even discover that after bringing order to your work, you do not want to leave after all.