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.