I am a rule follower. Therefore, it is no surprise that a huge part of my practice is focused on compliance. So, you can probably guess that when the directive on social distancing came out, I took it seriously.
What is compliance? In general, compliance means to conform to a rule, a standard, a policy, a regulation, a law.
In my practice I focus primarily on Food and Drug Administration (FDA) related regulatory compliance. This means that a company which is subject to the FDA, including but not limited to, a pharmaceutical supplier, a food importer, a medical device manufacturer, must comply with the regulations under the FDA as they apply to those products.
If, however there is a deviation from compliance, negative consequences arise which range from an FDA product hold to an issuance of a Warning Letter, and so on. Deviations come in all sizes but ultimately all deviations are costly and time consuming to correct. Therefore, the best approach is the preventative approach; to have all the necessary measures in place to ensure that there are very little to no deviations.
Which brings me back to the situation we are dealing with today – COVID-19.
The current rule on social distancing is one we are all subject to. Compliance of this rule means we must maintain distance from others for the protection of others and ourselves and for the ultimate purpose of mitigating the damages arising out of this situation, and ultimately eliminating it.
However, every time there is a deviation from compliance, there are in fact negative consequences, costly for sure as we have seen by the changes in our economy. But also, time consuming to correct because as compliance decreases, the more reach this virus has, and the more resources and time is required to stop it.
In short, compliance in key and it must be taken seriously, in industry and in life.