Many organizations have been conducting environmental, health, and safety (EHS) audits for decades now, and as auditors revisit sites on a 2- or 3-year cycle, one of the most frustrating aspects of the audit outcomes is that many of the same or similar findings of noncompliance seem to arise time and time again. This situation
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The great majority of environmental, health, and safety (EH&S) professionals come from a background that is either primarily environmental in focus or primarily health and safety based. As the EH&S auditing profession has evolved, companies have integrated environmental topics with health and safety topics (and sometimes with others such as management systems or sustainability) on
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In December 2011, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published two standards, an updated edition of ISO 19011, Guidelines for auditing management systems, and a new standard covering emergency management, ISO 22320, Societal security—Emergency management—Requirements for incident response. ISO 19011:2011 ISO believes that the revision of ISO 19011 will save money, time, and resources
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On July 11, 2010, an article titled “EHS Audits—Have We Lost Our Way?” was published in EHS Journal.[1] It has since elicited a number of quite thoughtful and extensive comments and much general discussion. The premise of the article was that perhaps environmental, health, and safety (EHS) audit programs have evolved, particularly in the United
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Tablet computers and smartphones are not appropriate work tools for every professional or for every task; it really depends on what you do for a living. For auditors on the go, however, new generations of tablet devices, especially Apple’s iPad and iPhone, are proving to be essential working tools. Savvy auditors find plenty of ways
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Establishing how often to carry out environmental, health, and safety (EHS) audits at sites and facilities considered to be part of the auditable universe can be a trying exercise. Auditing high-risk operations too infrequently can lead to unwanted surprises because of the lack of oversight and governance. On the other hand, auditing too frequently can
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A client of Environmental Resources Management (ERM) was seeking benchmarking data about the organizational location of the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) audit function. In particular, the client wanted to know how common it is to have the EHS audit function report to the internal audit department, as opposed to the corporate EHS department. Since
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Environmental, health, and safety (EHS) audits are an effective compliance assurance tool for many organizations. They are designed to verify whether sites, facilities, and operations are meeting the expectations of applicable regulatory requirements, corporate policies and standards, and good risk management practices. As such, EHS audits are an important part of corporate governance. The audit
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Over the past thirty years, impressive advances have been made in information technology. Today, the tablet computer—most notably the iPad—provides EHS auditors with a powerful tool to improve the EHS audit process. This article reviews Elm Consulting Group’s use of the iPad for EHS auditing. Elm’s experience has shown that the iPad can improve audit accuracy while increasing overall audit efficiency by 15 to 20 percent.
EHS audit program managers often ask, “How do I know if my program is working?” This article explores the possible metrics that could be used to determine success or failure. As with most things in life, the answer is not obvious and can be quite complex. Let’s take a look at six common metrics that are often touted as valid measuring sticks
