Certified-laboratory testing with on-site consultant support gives dealerships, collision centers, and auto care operators the automotive compliance data regulators expect, replacing costly assumptions with evidence
WESTMINSTER, Colo., Aug. 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — KPA, the leading provider of automotive compliance and risk management software, consulting, and training, today launched Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Air Monitoring and Hazardous Waste Analysis. It is the first time KPA has offered laboratory testing, and the first end-to-end solution of its kind in the automotive industry: sampling, certified laboratory analysis, expert interpretation, and the documentation regulators require, managed as one program.
Backed by certified laboratory partners and KPA’s in-house environmental, health, and safety consultants, the services give dealerships, collision centers, and auto care businesses lab-verified data on what employees are breathing and what their business waste contains; the proof OSHA and EPA look for when a respiratory program or waste determination gets questioned.
Where reasonable estimates fall short
Compliance comes down to what a business can prove. OSHA’s respiratory protection standard (29 CFR 1910.134) requires employers to make “a reasonable estimate of employee exposures.” If they can’t, they’re required to treat the air as immediately dangerous to life or health, likely forcing the use of most protective and expensive respirator approved for these conditions.
Using reasonable estimates isn’t enough, as OSHA has not established exposure limits for the certain isocyanates in automotive clearcoats and hardeners, though NIOSH has warned for decades that exposure to diisocyanates can cause occupational asthma and, in documented cases, death.
The same need for evidence applies to hazardous waste. EPA rules (40 CFR 262.11) require businesses to support their own waste determinations and retain the records for at least three years, with penalties reaching $93,058 per day, per violation. Regulators are paying attention: respiratory protection was OSHA’s fifth most cited standard in fiscal year 2025, according to OSHA’s Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards for Fiscal Year 2025
“Every compliance program gets tested eventually, either by an inspector, an insurer, or an injured employee’s attorney,” said Wayne Curtis, CEO at KPA. “What matters at that point is the evidence behind your decisions. The assumptions that fail are rarely dramatic: a respirator picked for a hazard nobody measured, or a drum labeled non-hazardous because that is how it was labeled last year. Repeated across dozens of rooftops, that stops being a paperwork problem and becomes dozens of employees breathing something nobody checked. No one had built this end to end for automotive, so we did. It protects the business, and more to the point, it protects the people in the shop and the communities around them.”
Turning laboratory results into compliance and safety decisions
Both services are available as add-ons to KPA’s Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) programs:
- Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Air Monitoring — validate respirator decisions with shop-specific data: After a full-shift personal air sampling event, a certified laboratory measures employee exposure to airborne chemicals and delivers a respiratory exposure assessment based on the materials and processes in use at that location. Shops use it to confirm whether respirators are required, and back their respiratory protection program with their own numbers instead of industry averages.
- Hazardous Waste Analysis — classify mixed waste streams correctly the first time: KPA tests mixed-composition waste for toxicity, ignitability, and corrosivity, covering the streams hardest to call from process knowledge alone: paint booth filters, sludge, absorbents, solvent blends, and more. The lab-verified results determine hazardous waste status, establish the right disposal path, and cut risk on both sides: penalties for under-classifying waste, and the cost of paying hazardous rates for waste that isn’t.
Interpretation stays in-house: KPA’s certified environmental experts, whose credentials include Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM) and Registered Environmental Professional (REP), review every lab result before it reaches the customer, prepare the final report, and work with each location through what the findings require.
“A lab report is a data point, not a compliance program,” said Mike Tanguay, National Director, EHS Field Services at KPA. “The value shows up when a credentialed consultant who knows the shop turns those results into decisions: this waste stream changes disposal profiles, that booth needs a different respirator. Testing tells you what’s true. We tell you what to do about it.”
The launch builds on expanded EHS solutions KPA introduced in July 2026, and represents the company’s latest addition to its automotive EHS program this year. KPA supports more than 15,000 dealerships, collision centers, and auto care businesses with more than 150 in-house compliance consultants who make roughly 24,000 visits a year and more than 400 automotive-specific training courses. KPA’s software, consulting, and training solutions have helped more than 8 million employees identify risk and maintain compliance across their organizations.
To learn more about KPA’s environmental compliance solutions, visit kpa.io.
About KPA
KPA helps the automotive industry improve safety culture and stay compliant with state and federal regulations. Trusted by over 15,000 clients, including 8 of the top 10 automotive dealership groups, KPA delivers a comprehensive suite of compliance solutions designed for automotive businesses, collision centers, marine, truck, and RV dealers, and related industries. Through integrated EHS, Privacy and Cybersecurity, HR, and Advertising Sales and F&I consulting, software, and training, KPA enables organizations to proactively manage risk, reduce costs, and improve productivity across their operations.
CONTACT: Media Contact Jack McHugh, Propllr PR for KPA | 816-679-8277 | jack@propllr.com
