EHS Audits

Measure the performance of your facilities to ensure ongoing EHS Regulatory Compliance and sound EHS Management

Assessing facility compliance with internal corporate guidelines and local regulations is challenging enough at home, but foreign operations pose substantial additional challenges.

How well does local management understand, let alone comply with corporate requirements? How extensively are they regulated by the government? How can internal auditors be sure they are accurately assessing compliance with the most recent applicable laws and regulations, especially when they are rarely available in English? How rigorously are these laws enforced?

These and a myriad of other questions must be addressed when auditing international operations. ENHESA provides a variety of services to clients to help them verify that their international activities and operations through EHS audits that are in compliance with local regulatory requirements, internal corporate policies and procedures and appropriate and applicable “best EHS management standards”.

The objective of the EHS compliance audit of a facility is to collect and assess evidence to determine the facility’s capability to ensure ongoing compliance with environmental, health and safety regulatory requirements.  As such it is an essential component of every corporate EHS compliance assurance program.

Audit Leadership

ENHESA conducts EHS compliance audits as lead or support auditors using the Audit Protocols developed by us for this purpose. We also deploy fully trained and certified environmental auditors with extensive experience in evaluating facility regulatory compliance and conformity to corporate guidelines and best management practices.

Our auditors also audit facility conformity to environmental management standards, including the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18000. We also advise our clients on appropriate improvements to their own audit processes. Our reports typically identify the root causes of non-compliance or other deficiencies, prioritise issues according to the greatest risk and potential for harm to our client, clearly explain the regulatory requirements that are not fully complied with, and recommend areas for improvement. We also keep an eye open for innovations that might serve as models for others within the client organisation.

Audit Support

Many of our clients organise and carry out their own internal EHS audits, with their own internal auditing staff. Frequently in such instances, ENHESA staff that have prepared the audit checklists are called upon to provide on-site support to the audit team in the field. Our experts, fluent in the language spoken at the facility, then accompany the client audit team, lending support in all areas where needed, including:

• review and summarising of official documents, including permits, permit applications, correspondence, and records and official reports;
• translation and interpretation support for interviews with local management and employees
• regulatory findings and interpretations for situations or circumstances encountered during the audit
• post-audit follow-up support in researching and providing final regulatory interpretations and citations.

ENHESA can also provide back-office regulatory support during the audit, as well as during the reporting phase or audit follow-up actions.

Audit Tools

ENHESA provides both standard-format, standard topic EHS Audit Protocols as well as specifically tailored checklists adapted to clients’ own internal EHS compliance and management programmes. While most companies find an “off-the-shelf” Audit Protocol to be the most cost-effective, we are aware that for some, “one size does not fit all”. So we frequently tailor and adapt our Audit Protocols to the specific needs and activities of each site.

The tool used to assess compliance is essential to a successful compliance audit.  ENHESA has become the global leader in the provision of global Compliance Audit Tools and Systems.

More Info about Audit Protocols and ScoreCards

Audit Experience

ENHESA has carried out audits in over 60 countries worldwide for dozens of clients in a broad range of industrial sectors ranging from specialty chemicals, energy and advanced materials to pharmaceuticals and medical devices, from automotive to aerospace, from information technologies and telecommunications to consumer electronics, from food and beverage to entertainment, and beyond. 

Our experts have led or provided regulatory support for hundreds of compliance audits for clients worldwide. We have also performed pre-registration audits for facilities seeking registration under the EU’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), as well as pre-certification audits for facilities seeking ISO 14001 certification. ENHESA consultants have led compliance and management systems audits throughout Europe (including virtually every country in western Europe and many in central and eastern Europe) and in the Asia/Pacific region (including China, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea, amongst others). ENHESA consultants have also led compliance audits in the United States and Mexico.

Audit Results

The compliance audit will assist the company in identifying areas that are, or may become, out of EHS regulatory compliance so that corrective or remedial action can be taken.

When using the ENHESA ScoreCard, the compliance audit will also provide for each major subject area an Enhesa compliance assurance rating, as well as an overall Enhesa compliance assurance rating for the facility.  This Enhesa Compliance Assurance Rating indicates the facility’s capability to ensure ongoing EHS regulatory compliance.  A star diagram will be provided to visualize the rating and identify the areas that require most attention to ensure ongoing compliance.

This score can be used to track the facility’s performance as well as to benchmark against the performance of other facilities.

In a more forward-looking sense, the compliance audit can reduce the potential for:

• harm or risk to the environment, occupational health or equipment;
• government enforcement action; or
• other consequences of inadequate EHS policy by eliminating the circumstances that give rise to non-compliance.

The compliance audit acts as a proactive mechanism to avoid non-compliance by providing the facility with the knowledge necessary to meet legal requirements.

Used proactively, the compliance audit can assist in demonstrating that a party has acted with reasonable care and can, therefore, be an element of a due diligence defence in response to legal action.

Companies are faced with a variety of risks related to EHS compliance and performance, including risk to their financial, environmental, legal, and public accountability and reputation. A compliance audit provides a mechanism to identify risks so that the audit client can make informed decisions for risk management and control in property management, facility operations, and investment decisions.