Auditing is a tough subject. The term rarely conjures pleasant thoughts. It’s often a dreaded event for the auditee. For the EHS department, it is a complex endeavor that the EHS professionals often don’t feel they fully have a handle on, as issues of program validity and reliability swirl around. With internal audit programs in large companies, scheduling can be a nightmare with auditors swamped by primary-non-audit duties. While the audit job gets done and reports are generated for the C-Suite, Board of Directors and External Third Parties, the EHS audit programs I’ve observed often miss the mark that the EHS department want to hit.
Some of the recent EHS audit program challenges I’ve observed are 1) integrating EHS management system audits with existing compliance audits, 2) developing procedures to close the gap between EHS program/system upgrades and the audit tools measuring them;, 3) training auditors how to audit the EHS management system, and, 4) identifying leading indicators that can hopefully shorten the audit process or be used in site/plant self-assessment activities. Read More
Many EHS professionals are familiar with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) from its widely known management systems, ISO 9001 and 14001. Over the past five years, that has been activities to extend ISO more explicitly into the area of risk management. Their first two management systems (9001 and 14001) are essentially risk management tools.