Environmental Auditing in Support of Sustainable Business Practice
Overview
This standard describes the skill and knowledge required to develop and plan improvements to environmental performance. The standard looks at the planning, implementation and review of improvements to environmental performance.
This standard would be appropriate for:
1 A manager with responsibility for environmental management and or sustainability
2 An owner manager of a business seeking to improve the environmental performance of the organisation
3 An individual with a specific brief to improve environmental performance
4 An environmental management systems co-ordinator or equivalent
5 A consultant providing environmental advice
This standard covers the implementation of these plans and the communication and development of others to ensure success.
It also covers the review and evaluation of the plan and its implementation and the future implications of this.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
P1 specify the objectives of the environmental audit
P2 establish the responsibilities and resources required to conduct the audit
P3 establish the audit techniques required to achieve the audit objectives
P4 communicate the audit objectives
P5 establish the interested parties to liaise with during the audit process
P6 list the sources of information for use during the audit process
P7 confirm that the audit objectives are realistic and meet the organisation’s needs
P8 demonstrate the principles of good auditor practice
P9 conduct an environmental audit in accordance with the audit objectives
P10 collect and verify objective audit evidence through interviews, observation and document review
P11 during the audit, communicate with interested parties using the appropriate channels
P12 record the findings of the audit
P13 generate the audit findings and prepare conclusions in accordance with the objectives of the audit
P14 report the findings of an environmental audit against the specified objectives in a clear, concise and accurate manner
P15 identify areas of good practice and recommend areas for improvement to the organisation’s environmental performance based on the findings of the audit
P16 agree any actions arising from the audit with the person(s) responsible
P17 follow up outstanding actions with the person(s) responsible
P18 distribute the report to the person(s) responsible
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
K1 the different audit types
K2 the role of environmental audits and situations in which they are applicable
K3 the stages in the environmental audit process
K4 audit techniques to be used and the reasons for their selection
K5 those aspects of the organisation to be audited and sources of information
K6 how to specify and obtain any additional audit expertise required
K7 how to define a suitable level of liaison and consultation with interested parties
K8 methods of liaising with interested parties
K9 the principles of good auditor practice
K10 how to access and record audit findings accurately
K11 how to evaluate environmental processes and performance against the audit objectives
K12 how to evaluate audit findings against the audit objectives
K13 the contents of an environmental audit report
K14 how to derive recommendations from audit findings
K15 how to identify recipients/interested parties for the report