Importance Of Environmental Audit

1. Introduction

The purpose of an environmental audit to test an organization’s environmental performance against its clearly defined and documented environmental policies and objectives. An environmental audit is one of many environmental management tools which are used to assess, evaluate and manage environmental and sustainability issues (DEAT, 2004). Environmental auditing is not only required by law in some cases, but has many benefits for an organization. Some of the many objectives of environmental audits include verifying compliance with standards of best practices, detecting any problems with the operations of the organization, measuring the environmental impact of any of the processes or activities, providing a database for corrective

Types of Audits

Internal audits use auditors from within the department or facility being audited, and tend to cause the least amount of disruption to the rest of the workforce due to operational familiarity. They also have lowest cost, and auditors benefit from the cross-transfer of information from other areas of the workplace. However, internal auditors often have the least amount of audit expertise and the findings and corrective actions may not be of the highest quality. Internal audits are also the least independent (CSTI, 1994).

Cross audits use auditors within the same organization, but from different regions or facilities. These audits are more independent and auditors tend to have more expertise. There is also a greater opportunity for the mutual transfer of information and knowledge between auditors and auditees. These audits bear a higher cost than internal audits and are slightly more disruptive due to less operational

They are audits which consider the current and potential environmental liabilities and risks of a site or operation. They are most commonly carried out as a precursor to the purchase of property which has been or is likely to be used for industrial or commercial purposes. They may often form part of a broader financial due diligence audit which evaluates business risks associated with the purchase of the property. The likely issues that can arise from environmental due diligence audits include historical hazardous waste disposal, which may result in pollutants contaminating the groundwater and soil, as well as jeopardizing the health and safety of employees. In such circumstances, the owner of the land where the waste was buried could be held liable for and clean-up or remediation costs, and the new owner is not inheriting the liability. (DEAT, 2004) (UNISA,