Environmental Audit in India: Objectives, Scope, Benefits & Process Explained

Environmental audit

Environmental audit is a general term that can reflect various types or evaluations intended to identify environmental compliance and management system implementation gaps, along with related corrective actions. In this way they perform an analogous (similar) function to financial audits.

There are generally two different types of environmental audits:

1. Compliance audits
2. Management systems audits.

An environmental audit is a tool which can quantify an organization’s environmental performance and position. An environmental audit is useful for finding the areas of your business that impact the most on the environment. It is also an effective risk management tool for checking how effectively your business acts in accordance with environmental regulations. An environmental audit assesses the nature and extent of harm to the environment caused by the activities, waste or noise from your business. Use the audit as a tool to help you:

1. Assess how you can manage or improve the condition of the environment
2. Prioritize what actions you can take to reduce your impact on the environment
3. Demonstrate accountability to third parties such as government, customers and shareholders.

Environmental audits must be independent, objective, credible and transparent in order to be successful. Audits should also be regular and ongoing, and conducted against a benchmark or initial assessment, generally detailed in your environmental plan.

Objectives of Environmental Auditing 

The overall objective of environmental auditing is to help safeguard the environment and minimize risks to human health. Clearly, auditing alone will not achieve this goal (hence the use of the word help); it is a management tool. The key objectives of an environmental audit therefore are to:

1. Determine how well the environmental management systems and equipment are performing
2. Verify compliance with the relevant national, local or other laws and regulations
3. Minimize human exposure to risks from environmental, health and safety problems.

Scope of the Audit 

As the prime objective of audits is to test the adequacy of existing management systems; they fulfil a fundamentally different role from the monitoring of environmental performance. Audits can address one topic, or a whole range of issues. The greater the scope of the audit, the greater will be the size of the audit team, the time spent onsite and the depth of investigation. 

Where international audits need to be carried out by a central team, there can be good reasons for covering more than one area while onsite to minimize costs. In addition, the scope of an audit can vary from simple compliance testing to a more rigorous examination, depending on the perceived needs of the management. The technique is applied not only to operational environmental, health and safety management, but increasingly also to product safety and product quality management, and to areas such as loss prevention.

Environmental, Safety, Occupational Health and Product Safety Checklist

Environmental	Safety	Occupational Health	Product Safety
Site history Process/materials Storage of materials above ground/below ground Air emissions Water discharges Liquid/hazardous wastes Asbestos Waste disposal onsite/offsite Oil/chemical spill prevention Permits/licenses	Safety policy/procedures Accident reporting Accident recording Accident investigation Permit to work systems Special procedures (confined space, electrical work, pipelines) Emergency response Fire fighting Job safety analysis Safety training Safety communication/promotion Housekeeping Regulatory compliance	Employee exposure to air contaminants Exposure to physical agents (noise, radiation, heat) Measurements of employee exposure Exposure records Ventilation/engineering controls Personal protective equipment Information and training on health hazards Medical surveillance programme Hearing conservation First aid Regulatory requirements	Product safety programme Product quality control Product packaging, storage and shipping Product recall/withdrawal procedures Customer information on product handling and quality Regulatory compliance Labelling Specifications for purchased materials/products/packaging Materials safety data Vendor qualification programme QA testing and inspections Record keeping Product literature Process control

Benefits of Environmental Auditing 

If environmental auditing is implemented in a constructive way there are many benefits to be derived from the process. The auditing approach described in this paper will help to:

1. Safeguard the environment
2. Verify compliance with local and national laws
3. Indicate current or potential future problems that need to be addressed
4. Assess training programmes and provide data to assist in training
5. Enable companies to build on good environmental performance, give credit where appropriate and highlight deficiencies
6. Identify potential cost savings, such as from waste minimization
7. Assist the exchange and comparison of information between different plants or subsidiary companies
8. Demonstrate company commitment to environmental protection to employees, the public and the authorities.

Who should complete an environmental audit?

ISO 19011:2012 Guidelines for auditing management systems provides information regarding the choice of Environmental Auditor. Environmental Auditors should have personal attributes, such as ethics, open-mindedness, be perceptive and have tact. They should understand audit principles, procedures and techniques, as well as having gained experience through conducting audits. They should know the subject matter they are auditing against and how this applies to different organizations. Audit team leaders should be able to plan and resources effectively, have good communication and leadership skills. Preferably Environmental Auditors should complete environmental auditing training and have attained an appropriate level of education. A good Auditor should have adequate skills and experience. When seeking an external Auditor consideration could be given to the skills outlined above. The RABQSA provides details of Environmental Auditors that have completed training (5 days) and have met a minimum certification standard. Depending on the auditing requirements consideration could be given to determining whether the Auditor needs to be certified by additional organizations (e.g. EPA appointed Environmental Auditors).

Environmental auditing in India

1. Auditing in India - The Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) in India is headed by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India who is a constitutional authority. The CAG of India derives his mandate from Articles 148 to 151 of the Indian Constitution. The CAG’s (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971 prescribes functions, duties and powers of the CAG. While fulfilling his constitutional obligations, the CAG examines various aspects of government expenditure and revenues. The audit conducted by CAG is broadly classified into Financial, Compliance and Performance Audit. Environmental audit by SAI India is conducted within the broad framework of Compliance and Performance Audit.
2. Environment protection in India - The Ministry of Environment & Forests is the nodal agency in the administrative structure of the Central Government of India, for the planning, promotion, coordination and overseeing the implementation of environmental and forestry programmes. The Ministry is also the Nodal agency in the country for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In the states, the Department of Environment and Forest are the main agency for implementation of environment programmes.

The principal activities undertaken by Ministry of Environment & Forests consist of

1. Conservation & survey of flora, fauna, forests and wildlife;
2. Prevention & control of pollution; afforestation and regeneration of degraded areas; and
3. Protection of environment, in the frame work of legislation.

Major policy initiatives by Ministry of Environment and Forests include:

1. National Environment Policy, 
2. Conservation Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and Development,1992;
3. Policy Statement for Abatement of Pollution;
4. National Forest Policy etc...

FAQ’s

What are the different types of environmental audits?

There are three main types of environmental audits which are compliance audits, management audits to verify whether an organisation meets its stated objectives, and, functional audits such as for water and electricity.

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Sandeep Ghatuary

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