Environmental Audit - Term Paper Example

Environmental Audit Environmental audit is environmental evaluation intended to identify various environmental problems and management system and totake corrective actions if there is any problems. Generally there are two types of environmental audit such as compliance audit and management system audit. Environmental auditing is systematic process of collecting information regarding the effectiveness environmental policies. Environmental audit can be defined as “An environmental audit is concerned with checking conformity with legislative requirements and environmental standards, as well as with company policy. The audit may also cover potential improvements in environmental performance and systems” (Definition of Environmental Audit para. 1). Environmental auditing is systematic process conducted at regular interval by responsible authority in order to identify operations and practices related to meet environmental requirement. When conducting the environmental auditing, the firm should frame certain criteria for conducting the audit. Effective criteria would enable the firm to assess the performance of auditing entity. If these criteria are inappropriate it will bring certain problems in making the auditing. The framed criteria should be measurable, acceptable, and should be reliable. The organization should make good planning regarding the conduct of environmental audit. This planning would help the firm to know the required time to complete the auditing procedures and to identify potential problems in the audit etc. “For planning for successful audit assignments, the auditor needs to understand the auditees’ commitments in terms of financial norms, compliance requirements, and performance expectations. This would determine what procedure is to be followed” (Guidance on Conducting Environmental Audit 9). If a firm proposed to conduct environmental audit, it should have clear objective about the auditing, and the firm should determine the steps to be undertaken by the firm to achieve the desired result. The firm should determine the audit scope, areas of auditing etc. The audit objectives includes the following To recognize improvement opportunities. To assess the internal policies for conducting environmental audit. Environmental audit generally conduct in the following areas Material management and savings of material. Waste management and effective disposal of waste. Economy use of water resources. Effective utilization of energy resources. Performance pertaining with the environmental management system. Air pollution and preparedness to prevent air pollution. Noise pollutions control and preparedness. Conducting environmental auditing is the responsibility of companies, and it is their duty to keep environment free from the pollutions. The companies should evaluate their commitment toward society and they should not make any harm to the environment. Companies should utilize the natural resources in right manner and it should not exploit. Today government has imposed many regulations on the companies to protect the environment from the pollutions. “Through adoption of clean technologies and improvement in management practices for prevention and control of pollution is not only mandatory but also has got wide acceptance among the industrial community. Charter on corporate responsibility for environmental protection (CREP) also calls for commitment and voluntary initiatives of industry for responsible care of the environment” (Environmental Auditing 1). Environmental auditing reviews company’s operations and process in order to assess company’s compliance with environmental rules and regulations. Environmental auditing cover broad areas of business including building and building site. Many companies are using environmental auditing as a valuable tool of business resources. The auditing helps the company to bring many advantageous such as to know the problems relating to air, water, and land and to gain information about the material used in the business. Environmental auditing would help the company for risk mitigation. Environmental auditing can be used as effective tools for risk management. It helps the organization to know whether company is following the rules framed by the governmental authorities and helps the company from legal actions like fines arising from the environmental breaches. Environmental auditing highlights the potential current or future problems that company may face and helps the company to cost saving by waste minimization. It will help the company to demonstrate company’s commitment and responsibility in protecting environment to employees and the public and thereby company can create better goodwill among the public. It also helps the company to gain the confidence of stakeholders by company’s environmental performance ad ensure them that company follow the environmental rules. “The audit program demonstrates senior management’s commitment to environmental compliance. The audit program will, by its nature, increase environmental awareness at facilities. Increasing environmental awareness will influence and involve employees at all levels of the organization” (Environmental Auditing Policy 1). The purpose for conducting environmental auditing is to verify the environmental regulations and internal policy of the company with regard to the protection of environment and the accepted procedures of the company for protecting the environment. It evaluates the effectiveness of environmental management system in the organization. In environmental auditing prime importance is given to physical environment such as water, soil, air, workers safety, and community disturbance. In auditing usually biotic environment are not considered. Most of the environmental impacts identified by the environmental auditing is water pollution, wastage problems, and noise disturbance etc. “In order of importance, the main problems detected by the auditing were discharges of untreated wastewater effluents, excessive levels of noise inside the facilities, lack of training about handling of hazardous materials, uncontrolled air emissions, and solid waste generation and disposal” (Paez 208). Environmental auditing is a methodical, periodic, documented, and objective method in measuring an organization’s services and activities concerning: Helping management power of environmental practices. Promoting high-quality ecological management. Keeping reliability with the public. Measuring compliance with applicable internal and statutory requirements. Searching improvement chances. Increasing staff consciousness and enforcing obligation to departmental environmental plan. “It is important to draw the distinction between auditing and techniques such as environmental impact assessment (EIA)” (Stellman). Depending on their requirements, organizations contain developed their own auditing methods, but the outcome of global working groups on the topic suggest that it is a consensus on the significant features of the steps of environmental auditing. Environmental auditing can divided into three parts, they are pre audit activities, activities at the site and post audit activities. Pre audit activities: In the majority companies environmental audits are the responsibility of a specialized unit within the environmental area at companies head office. This self-governing, centralized unit is also normally in charge of safety and health audits. “Environmental auditing needs the strong endorsement and active support of top management. The procedure should be clearly communicated, together with the appropriate incentives. The auditing team has to gain the confidence of the audited units and make clear that the objective is to identify ways to progress, and not to punish managers” (North 111). Activities at the site: Every company has developed its have methodology and set of dealings for performing an audit. Questionnaires, site visits, review of documents, and interviews are used. Generally, the performance of units is audited according to; government requirements and internal requirements. Post audit activities: A draft statement should be published and discussed with the organization and worker’s agents of the audited unit. A number of companies prefer the audit statement to be only a statement of truth, and others wish to contain proposals on how to develop things. Once a final statement has been issued and accepted, an action plan based on the audit findings has to be arranged, generally by the audited unit helped by the respective specialists. Suggestions for better environmental performance have to be executed by department in accuse of the audit. To develop confidence, at both local community and authority levels, in a organization’s operations, information should be periodically abounding about audit outcomes and measures taken to progress environmental performance. “Representatives of organizations using environmental auditing emphasized the importance of top management’s commitment to a program’s success” (Environmental Auditing: A Useful Tool That Can Improve Environmental Performance and Reduce Costs 4). An official environmental policy report is frequently utilized by top managers to put shareholders, employees and others on detect that environmental protection is essential to the organization’s mission. Additionally, some organizations believe environmental performance in payment decisions for important personnel. As the private division’s environmental audit programs can raise compliance with ecological laws and assist evade the costs of non-compliance. In addition environmental audit is simply one component of a comprehensive method for controlling environmental performance, and it is not the simply part that can decrease savings. Organizations with greatly developed environmental performance management programs normally have other programs that too create savings. These may contain waste minimization, pollution preservation, energy, and materials conservation programs and recycling. The environmental audit programs is frequently the method for ascertaining these programs and can be modified to assess their operational efficiency just as it evaluates environmental management systems, compliance and regulated and unregulated risks. Following are the important primary benefits of environmental audit. Environmental auditing can raise environmental awareness and facility among workers. The significant advantage of auditing is raises the common level of environmental awareness inside an organization and it assists workers at all levels improved understand their responsibilities in keeping the environment. Environmental auditing can outcome in relaxed regulatory inspection. A probable environmental audit program can certainly influence regulators confidence in the purpose and capability of an organization to conduct its business in an environmentally accountable manner. Environmental auditing ascertains an evidence of an organization’ s environmental performance. Increasingly, companies are under pressure to reveal data to the public regarding their ecological performance and about the health, environmental and safety risks posed by their process. Advocates and Practitioners of environmental auditing note that it gives a basis for companies to responsibly report to their shareholders on their ecological liabilities and compliance on the measure they are taking to develop their ecological performance. Audit work is defined in advance. The coverage and aim of an audit are clearly recognized before the audit takes place, in order that the expectations and needs are totally defined and understood by the customer and the auditee. Environmental auditing facilitates budgeting and planning for environmental plans. An inclusive environmental audit gives important information about the extent and nature of a company’s environmental difficulty, permitting managers to set priorities and to budget and plan for essential corrective actions. “Environmental audits can ‘add value’ to the management approaches being taken by companies and organizations and is a way of identifying, evaluating, and managing environmental risks (known and unknown). It can be undertaken at various levels of sophistication and detail which can be tailored to the needs of the client organization” (Environmental Auditing). The environmental audit helps in the method of testing performance in the environmental arena and is speedy becoming an essential help to business decision making. Work Cited Definition of Environmental Audit. QFinance. 2009. Web. 04 Nov. Environmental Auditing: A Useful Tool That Can Improve Environmental Performance and Reduce Costs. DIANE Publishing Company. 1995. Web. 04 Nov. Environmental Auditing Policy. Freeport –McMoran Copper & Gold. n.d. Web. 04 Nov. < http://www.fcx.com/envir/pdf/policies/Envirn/EnvAudPo_jul07.pdf> Environmental Auditing. Department of Ecology & Environment. n.d. Web. 04 Nov. Environmental Auditing. Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. n.d. Web. 04 Nov. Guidance on Conducting Environmental Audit. 8th ASOSAI Research Project. n.d. Web. 04 Nov. North, Klaus. Environmental Business Management: An Introduction. International Labour Organization. 1997. Web. 04 Nov. Paez, Carlos. Environmental Auditing : The Case of Ecuadorian Industry. UNEP EIA Training Resource Manual. n.d. Web. 04 Nov. Stellman, Jeanne Mager. Encyclopedia of Occupational Health and Safety. Vol. 1. International Labour Office. 4th Edn. 1998. Web. 04 Nov. < http://books.google.co.in/books?id=Ceuq9P4hLJMC&pg=RA1-PT523&dq=environmental+audit&hl=en&ei=872vTvf6E4bVrQfOp5Ve&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDUQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=environmental%20audit&f=false> 1. International Labour Office: Geneva Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety Fourth Edition Volume II Edited By: Jeanne Mager Stellman Publications: International Labour Organization 1998. Available at: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=Ceuq9P4hLJMC&pg=RA1- PT523&dq=environmental+audit&hl=en&ei=872vTvf6E4bVrQfOp5Ve&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDUQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=environmental%20audit&f=false 2. Environmental Business Management Second (Revised) Edition International Labour Office Geneva Author: Klaus North An Introduction: Management Development Series No. 30 Publications: International Labour Organization 1992 Available at: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=BU6fxV5VCf8C&pg=PA110&dq=environmental+audit&hl=en&ei=nYvTo6cJIHprAejwPxf&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=environmental%20audit&f=false 1. Environmental Auditing: A Useful Tool That Can Improve Environmental Performance and Reduce Costs United States: General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Publications: DIANE Publishing Company Available at: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=TSFvO0t--OkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=environmental+audit&hl=en&ei=KK2vTrnMF8amrAev6Olp&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=environmental%20audit&f=false Read More