Scaling Safety and Standardizing EHS Globally with Trusted Technology Partner
With over 15 years of experience using Benchmark Gensuite (dating back to the PowerSuite days at GE), Chris Masters has witnessed firsthand how the right EHS software can unify data, empower teams, and elevate safety culture. In this Q&A, Chris shares how he and his team are transforming safety programs across global sites with standardized processes, mobile tools, and data-driven insights.
Key Takeaways from Chris’s EHS Journey
- 15+ years’ experience using integrated EHS software
- Successfully standardized global safety processes across teams
- Mobile tools empower frontline audits, inspections, and reporting
- Tiered scorecards and KPIs drive continuous improvement
- AI tools streamline permitting, data analysis, and contractor reviews
- Trusted relationship with the platform’s support team drives success
How did you first start using enterprise EHS software, and what impact did it have on your safety programs?
Chris: Coming into GE you had to use it, right? When you first start using it, you’re like, oh my God, there’s so much in here. But then when you go someplace else and it’s not there, you’re like, wow I want that back, right now. Having the standardization, being able to go in, look at your incidents, your trends, your data, your framework, tiered scorecard—now it’s all in one place instead of trying to go here, here and here.
What made this EHS platform intuitive and easy for your teams to adopt?
Chris: It’s very intuitive. I have a new team that’s using it now. We used a different software company for almost three years, and nobody was using it, then we brought in Benchmark Gensuite, now everybody’s excited and ready to use it. It’s so intuitive, it’s so easy, it’s click-and-drop screens… Asking the Genny AI, ‘Hey, how do I get here?’ or being able to search for things that way. It’s been fantastic.
How would you describe your implementation experience rolling out EHS software across global sites?
Chris: They’ve been awesome… For a new team like I have, it’s great because it systematically approaches and walks through every little detail. There are program rollout notes… They really make sure you stay on task. We’re getting ready to wrap up the first phase of our implementation. We have three phases that we’re working through.
To learn more about how Benchmark Gensuite supports successful implementation, explore the full Tropicana Case Study.
What advice would you give other EHS leaders choosing safety software?
Chris: There’s no other one to consider. It’s 90% of what you need. You don’t need programmers or a dev team… All the stuff that we need from an EHS perspective, 90% of it’s there… It’s backed by 20+ years of EHS work. It’s right out of the box.
How does the mobile EHS app support your frontline teams?
Chris: The mobile app is basically the desktop app… Totally different ballgame now. They’ve done a ton of work on that. You literally have the whole platform in your hand on a tablet. The benefit is tremendous.
How does collaboration and user-driven innovation show up in your EHS work with this platform?
Chris: They’re 100% engaged. They want the feedback. They want to know, how can we make it better? What can we do to make that little thing smoother? I’ve had the opportunity to be on a couple of the early working groups… They’re not going to make it exactly what I want—they’re going to make it what the industry is really looking for. And they keep evolving.
What stands out about the platform’s full EHS capabilities for global safety management?
Chris: They play well in all the different areas—EHS, sustainability, quality—and they’re playing at a very high level… As an EHS professional, that’s tremendously important. The value of what you’re getting is huge. You have one place to go for everything… concern reports, incidents, framework, sustainability data, quality data. That’s priceless.
How would you describe your relationship with the EHS support team behind the platform?
Chris: Skye Sawyer has been fantastic… Sue Boone, awesome. I know them on a first name basis. I have their cell phone numbers. If you need something, you’re able to just reach out. And that’s what this team’s about—‘How can we help you? What can we do for you?’
How do you use dashboards, analytics, and tiered scorecards to drive EHS performance?
Chris: Tiered scorecard… that’s the measure of your program. Just because you’re not having injuries doesn’t mean you have a good program. And just because you have a good program doesn’t mean you’re not going to have injuries.
As your program increases, everything else should start coming down—injuries, concern reports, all that… Being able to trend that data and see our biggest ops opportunities for improvement—that’s what the company is interested in.
Learn more about how you can keep up with all your EHS team’s KPI’s with our Dashboards & Analytics solution.
What is the ROI of EHS software for leadership and safety decision-making?
Chris: It’s invaluable because of what it gives you and the power it gives the organization to really understand what they’re up against from a program perspective… You can bring in a piece, take a global approach, standardize. It works well with 500 sites or 5 sites. It’s fantastic.
Measure your potential ROI with our calculator today
What is your experience with configurable dashboards and personalized EHS home screens?
Chris: When you go on the home screen, you can set up how you want it to come up. I typically have the full KPIs listed there on the right-hand side… It shows me everything.
Very configurable. They’ve really made that home screen usable for the person that comes in that maybe doesn’t use it that often.
How is AI technology transforming EHS data and compliance management?
Chris: We’re using AI. Our CIO is talking about AI and how we can use it to simplify work and make it more efficient. So, we’re exploring different ways we can do that with the data that’s in the system.
That’s’ been a big thing that Benchmark Gensuite has been working on — asking, ‘What are some of those things that you as an EHS professional want to see?’ We’re looking for little nuances and things within the data that maybe we didn’t see, because we’re looking through the same lens all the time.
With AI you can ask, ‘Hey, change this up and show me this differently based off industry trends,’ and see if we have any of that in there. It’s great for that kind of stuff. It’s that large-scale data crunching — what used to take months, you can literally have in like a minute and a half… if you ask the right question.
Discover how Benchmark Gensuite is setting the pace in AI for EHS here.
How are you applying AI to streamline EHS workflows?
Chris: ChatGPT — I use it for often. Writing job descriptions, it does everything.
We’ve really started looking at it from a permitting perspective—reviewing permits, making sure content is up to date. Instead of having a person sit there and read it, you load it in, have it review, and it tells you what’s outdated. Contractors — can we set it up to auto-review safety programs? Make sure all the components are in place? That’s what I’d be looking at.
Why do you think more companies should adopt this EHS platform?
Chris: It amazes me that everybody’s just not using Benchmark Gensuite. 90% out of the box, willing to work with you, willing to do the things you ask them to do… Overall it gives you the best output of any of the software I’ve seen out there.
Final Reflections: Driving Standardized, Data-Driven EHS Programs at Global Scale
Chris Masters’s journey shows how the right EHS platform can do more than just track compliance — it can transform how organizations approach safety, performance, and continuous improvement. By unifying data, empowering frontline teams, and embracing new technologies like AI, Chris and his team at Tropicana Brands Group are setting a new standard for what modern EHS leadership looks like.
