Over the years there has been substantial debate over whether it makes sense to outsource the conduct of environmental, health and safety audits entirely. And, in fact, many, but not all, organizations have done just that. This outsourcing is typically not an easy decision. There are many factors that come into play. A previous EHS
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Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld once said there are things that we know for sure, and there are things that we know we don’t know. And then we also have things that we don’t know that we don’t know. The third category is what we want to uncover in an environmental audit…

Software designed to support EHS audits is one of the most widely deployed applications across environmental, health, and safety (EHS) processes. Penetration rates for audit software vie with incident management for top place. According to the Verdantix annual survey of 301 EHS decision-makers, 40% of firms already use software to enhance their EHS audit processes, and 2017 promises a good kick in spending. Six per cent of firms intend to replace existing homegrown or commercial systems, a further 6% will invest in an upgrade with their existing vendor, and an additional 8% plan to invest in EHS audit software for the first time. An impressive 20% of firms therefore plan some level of additional spend in this category during 2017.

In recent years there has been considerable discussion in the EHS audit profession about how to apply the concept of risk to an audit program. The theory is that risk-based programs will likely result in a more efficient and effective application of resources and a more targeted focus on truly important issues. This article provides a tool and approach that could be used by audit program managers to not only classify facilities, but also…

Corporate EHS audit programs require a substantial commitment on the part of executive management in order to be successful. Sadly, it is not always the case that senior corporate executives participate actively in EHS audit programs. This article examines the role of executive commitment in EHS audit programs and discusses ways to test whether this involvement is real or not.

Many companies have policies in place that specify the frequency of their internal environmental audits. Once a year or every other year, a company does an internal audit or hires external auditors to do it. When a company has a major chemical accident, investigative bodies such as the U.S. Chemical Safety Board looks into the
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“It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.” James Thurber Introduction In recent years there has been considerable discussion of establishing a more risk-based focus on environmental, health, and safety (EHS) audits. The concern is that audit results had devolved over time and several audit cycles into an inventory
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There continues to be intense discussion in the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) audit community over how to evaluate the performance of audit programs. EHS professionals know that simply tracking the number of audit findings yields little meaningful data. This article evaluates key audit program metrics that could be used to better assess audit program performance.

In the past few decades or so there has been a revolution in third-party programs and standards certifying, recognizing, or accrediting companies’ environmental, health and safety and sustainability performance. This has included numerous International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards and guidelines such as those for Environmental Management (ISO14000), Occupational Health and Safety (ISO45001), and
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Maya Angelou’s wrote, “How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes.” In this article, Raymond Kane evaluates the contributions of EHS auditors, who are often unrecognized heroes and she-roes.