This article discusses the conundrum faced by an environmental auditor who is retained by his client to perform an audit. During the audit, the consultant uncovers certain serious environmental violations that clearly pose imminent harm to the public and the environment. What are this auditor’s duties to report? Case Study Consider this likely scenario. An
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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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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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The year 2010 has reminded us once again that management of EHS responsibilities can have a substantial impact on people, the environment, and a company’s bottom line. In this article, Lawrence Cahill asks whether the EHS audit profession has lost its way and needs to develop a new approach.

As part of a proposed settlement agreement, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ordered BP to “audit a statistically significant number of pressure vessels, piping and instrument controls during the company’s PSM compliance audits” at one of its refineries. This article explores the implications of conducting a statistically significant audit sample and reviews the requirements for audit sampling contained in several auditing standards.