Download ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT 1. What is an environmental audit

ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT
1. What is an environmental audit?
Environmental auditing was originated in the United States in 1970s. It is defined as a management
tool comprising a systematic, documented, periodic and objective evaluation of the performance of the
organization, management system and processes designed to protect the environment with the aim of:
facilitating management control of practices which may have impact on the environment and assessing
compliance with the organization policies (Holbrook, 1996).
2. What is the purpose of environmental audit?
An organization can determine what environmental areas to focus on only when it identify and
measure the environmental impacts. Environmental auditing provides information that assists in
identifying environmental risk and priorities, assessing environmental performance and providing an
environmental context for decision-making processes. Environmental audit aims to predict
environmental impacts and liabilities by reviewing the environmental performance of an operating
company including its processes, material storage, operating procedures and environmental
management (European Commission, 2000).
3. What are the different types of environmental audits?
The main types of audits and their aims include (European Commission, 2000):

Phase-I or contaminated land audit – to determine and define liabilities from ground and
groundwater contamination on a site or within a building

Property transfer due diligence audit – to identify the potential environmental and financial
risks and liabilities associated with a property, may include some compliance review

Compliance audit – to assess whether operations are undertaken in accordance with
regulatory requirements and/or company requirements

Auditing of “Environmental management system” (EMS) – a systematic process to check the
conformance of the system with the international standard (ISO 14001) or internal corporate
standards and ensure continued effectiveness of an EMS

Environmental management plan (EMP) audit – review of the implementation of mitigation
and monitoring recommendations made in EMP

Environmental assessment audit - to check that an environmental impact assessment complies
with the minimum legal requirements and also checks to ensure that due legal process have
been followed
4. How to conduct an environmental audit?
An environmental audit is generally carried out in three stages with an environmental audit follow up.
An overview of the environmental audit process is shown in Figure. 1

Pre-audit stage:
The objectives of this stage are:
-
to make necessary preparation and arrangements for on-site audit (EPD, 2006)
-

to develop an audit plan for the on-site activities which specifies audit site & boundary
overview, scope & objectives, audit protocols, site inspection, site logistics, audit team
and site facilitation arrangement, audit schedule and administrative arrangements (EPD,
2006)
On-site audit stage:
The objectives of this stage are:
-
to verify legislative and regulatory compliance
-
to assess internal policy and procedural conformance
-
to establish current practice status and identify the improvement opportunities
In this stage an on-site opening meeting should be conducted with office manager and site
personnel to introduce the team members, present audit scope and objectives, outline the audit
approach and methodology and address the questions of concern of site personnel. And to
make a review of relevant documents such as management policy, operational procedures,
previous audit reports and records of monitoring, training, etc (EPD, 2006).

Post-audit stage:
Objectives of this stage are:
-
to produce an audit report with audit findings and recommendations
-
to contribute towards formulation of an action plan for continual performance
improvement
In this stage information need to be gathered, this should include completed pre-audit
questionnaire, operational document checklists, completed on-site survey questionnaires, onsite protocols, all relevant reports, diagrams and drawings and detailed inspection and
summaries (EPD, 2006).
Following up environmental audit:
1. Development of action plan – after the approval of audit report, an action plan with proper targets and
objectives for environmental improvement can be developed in consultation with audit site
management. An action plan should cover action objectives, specific actions required, budget allotted
and implementation program (EPD, 2006)
2. Implementation of action plan – responsible parties needs to undertake actions according to the allotted
budget and agreed timescale for completion (EPD, 2006)
3. Checking and Monitoring – the progress of action plan implementation is monitored and a status report
should be carried out which should include the information on progress of actions undertaken;
problems encountered when actions are taken and proposed solution and revised timescale for
completion (EPD, 2006)
4. Review action plan – upon completion of action plan implementation the results of action plan
implementation, levels of performance improvement achieved and next audit scope and schedule need
to be reviewed (EPD, 2006)
Figure. 1 Environmental Audit Process - An Overview (EPD, 2006)
5. What are the benefits of an environmental audit?

provides information on compliance with environmental legislation, thereby highlighting
potential areas for improvement and reducing the risk of a company being accused of
negligence (European Commission, 2000)

can increase public awareness about a company’s environmental performance and may
encourage public involvement in environmental management of a company (European
Commission, 2000)

increase awareness of company management and personal about environmental issues,
regulatory requirements, company policies and potential liabilities (European Commission,
2000)

can identifies cost recovery and saving opportunities through minimization of wastes,
recycling, energy saving, reduction in use of raw materials, sale of by-products, etc (European
Commission, 2000)
6. What are the potential barriers and risks to an environmental audit?

required skilled personnel

inability to measure some environmental aspects

consumption use data is often not recorded with accounting systems

lack of resources
References:
-
Environmental Protection Department (EPD) (2006). “Environmental Audit- A simple guide.”
<http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/how_help/tools_ea/tools_ea.html> (Nov. 24, 2008).
-
Envirowise (2004). “Environmental Audits.”
<http://www.envirowise.gov.uk/uk/Environmental-Audits.html> (Nov. 25, 2008).
-
European Commission: consultation draft (2000). “Towards Sustainable Economic and
Development Co-operation Best Practice Key Tools - Environmental audit.” (Nov.25, 2008).
-
Julian Holbrook (1996). “An introduction to environmental auditing.”
<http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/on-line/advisorynotes/45/45.htm> (Nov.24, 2008).
Swapna Mandava
CE-589