What is an Environmental Audit and Why is it Important

What is an Environmental Audit?

An environmental audit is basically a check of an entity such as an organisation against a form of environmental criteria such as a recognised standard, the law (for example the Environmental Protection Act 1990) or customer requirements. It determines how the extent to which the entity conforms with the  criteria for impacts associated with land, air, water and noise etc.

Environmental auditing is an essential tool to determine how well an organisation is performing from an environmental perspective. It provides necessary information to management to make informed decisions about successes and failures and how an organisation can improve. 

Those who undertake environmental audits must be competent, which involves gaining the correct knowledge and experience of the audit process.

The Importance of Environmental Audits

Organisations must be aware of their environmental failures so that they can be rectified and measures put in place to reduce their chances of recurrence. Conversely, they must also be aware of successes so these can be repeated. 

More specifically environmental audits will assist organisations with the following:

• Provide information on key environmental aspects and impacts,
• Determine legal compliance status reducing the likelihood of regulatory action.
• Identify areas for improvement such as the poor control of environmental risks, missing documentation or gaps in training.
• Determine the level of performance against formal certified environmental management system standards (EMSs)  such as ISO 14001.
• Meet the requirements for conducting internal audits stated in the ISO 14001 standard.

Environmental audits are therefore an essential part of an organisation’s risk management strategy.

What are the types of environmental audit?

There are many different types of environmental audit. Common audit types includes:

• Compliance audit – determines legal compliance.
• Procedures audit – the level of compliance with procedures, work instruction or standard operating procedure. A common audit undertaken as part of an ISO 14001 environmental management system.
• Environmental management systems audit – determines performance against a recognised EMS standard such as ISO 14001.
• Due diligence audit – audit of a site or organisation before their  takeover, merger or acquisition to determine environmental liabilities.

How to conduct an environmental audit

The process of undertaking an environmental audit involves the following:

Pre Audit

Key documents are often reviewed prior to visiting a site or organisation to be audited, such as management system documentation or records. On occasion, particularly for large and/or complex audits a preliminary site visit will be carried out. Documents required by the auditor (person conducting the audit) will be prepared such as checklists and forms for recording information. A plan of the audit will also be developed.

Audit Phase

Opening meeting

When at the organisation the auditee will conduct an opening meeting with the auditee. The purpose of the opening meeting is to work through the audit plan, confirm how the audit will be undertaken, determine health and safety requirements and give the auditee the opportunity to ask any questions that  they may have.

Information gathering

This phase of an audit involves checking conformance and non conformance with the agreed audit criteria (such as the ISO 14001 standard, law or a procedure etc). At this stage activities and processes are evaluated. Data is collected by three main ways:

• Interviews with employees, contractors or other relevant persons.
• Observations from the workplace such as spillage, emissions or waste storage.
• Review of documentation such as policies, permits, records of meetings and monitoring data.

Information collected during an environmental audit must be verifiable, meaning that it should be able to be checked by another means of information collection. For example the accuracy of interview evidence can be determined by making an observation or viewing a record.

Once necessary information has been collected the auditor will determine the audit findings. Audit findings are what conforms to the audit criteria and what does not.  

The auditor will then present the audit findings and conclusions at the closing meeting and ensure that they are acknowledged and understood. Additionally, depending on audit types, a corrective and preventative action plan will be developed.

Post Audit

Following the closing meeting data is interpreted and a report of the audit will be produced. This will vary in size depending on the scale and complexity of the audit, but should cover the following:

• Aim of the audit
• Audit scope what has been audited, where and when.
• Identification of the auditor, auditee and others involved in the audit.
• Date of the audit
• The audit criteria
• What was found during the audit
• Audit conclusions
• The level to which the criteria have been fulfilled.

The report will then be made available to management and other relevant parties. Then action plans will be developed to correct and prevent non conformances identified in the report. Actions will be specific to findings but may involve updates to policies, procedures, training or the installation of technical controls.

Benefits of environmental auditing

Environmental auditing has numerous benefits for organisations. It is a worthwhile and cost effective process. Depending on the audit type they will have the following benefits:

• Legal compliance – many types of environmental audit will check an organisation’s processes for determining the extent to which compliance obligations are fulfilled.
• Risk management – the information gained from audits will be essential for assessing and evaluating environmental risks.
• Cost savings – audits can often highlight inefficiencies in an organisation such as excessive waste production, substantial energy consumption or poor use and storage of raw materials, all of which have the potential to be costly.
• Corporate reputation – the undertaking of audits is an important element of robust environmental management and as such will improve the reputation of a business.
• Stakeholders – a robust environmental audit process will also prove to stakeholders such as customers, employees and the local community that controls are in place to identify and rectify significant environmental issues.

Who can conduct environmental audits

Environmental audits are conducted by a range of people including environmental consultants, internal compliance teams and regulators. Whoever undertakes environmental audits must be competent, which involves developing skills such as:

• Understanding the audit process and how it can be practically applied including its advantages and disadvantages,
• familiarity with the workplace activities being audited, 
• Knowledge of the chosen audit criteria such as EMS standards, the law or procedures.
• Ability to write audit reports, checklists and other audit records.

Read our guide on top tips for environmental auditors post to gain some insight into practical actions that can be implemented to improve environmental auditing..

How often should environmental audits be conducted?

There is no specific timeframe that environmental audits will be conducted. The frequency will depend on a factors such as the purpose of the audit, the frequency imposed by others such as  regulators, corporate headquarters or certification bodies, the level of risk to the environment and the conditions discovered  at the last audit.

Environmental audit successful case study

I have undertaken many environmental audits over the years and have seen how they can lead to significant improvement in environmental performance. For example, by undertaking a compliance audit of a clients site I was able to highlight weaknesses in compliance with environmental law and recommend targeted actions to improve compliance. The audit therefore assisted with gaining certification to the ISO 14001 EMS standard and significantly reduced the chances of breaching the law and all the negative impacts this may have such as fines, bad publicity and financial costs. 

The future of environmental auditing

AI is certainly an area that could improve the efficiency of audits. Information required to undertake an audit such as checklists and other forms could be generated automatically. With increasing levels of technology undertaking  remote audits should also become more effective, and digital information collection more feasible. There is also a move towards incorporating social issues such as diversity, child labour and modern day slavery etc issues into environmental audits.

Conclusion

Determining environmental problems through auditing is a key way to measure organisational environmental performance and target what actions are required to improve. 

Specific audit types vary from compliance audits to those that check the implementation of EMS standards. There are many benefits from carrying out environmental audits such as improved legal compliance, cost savings and improved corporate reputation. 

The audit process involves pre audit activities such as developing a plan and checklist, information gathering through observations, document review and interviews with staff. Those who undertake environmental audits must be competent; this can be achieved through a mix of training and practical experience. The frequency of when environmental audits need to be carried out depends on factors such as the level of risk discovered at the last audit and audit frequency imposed by others such as regulators or customers.

Conducting regular environmental audits is an important part of organisations approach to environmental management.