Canadian Environmental Auditing Association

Canadian Environmental Auditing Association

Dedicated exclusively to the interest of
the Environmental Auditor

News

Environmental Auditing - Developing the Protocol
By David Parkinson

The last ten years has witnessed a profound change in the field of environmental auditing. Once the virtual preserve of those organisations with a specific environmental agenda, the environmental audit has now become a far more widely applied business tool. With the worldwide growth in ISO14001 this is surely a trend that we can only expect to continue. As a profession therefor, we might rightly expect our methods and our approach to come under an increasing scrutiny - and, in particular, the ways by which we maintain a framework to guide our operations.

In one respect, of course, the process of building this framework is already underway, in the international arena at least, with the advent of the ISO 14000 series providing some degree of communality in terms of auditor qualifications, experience and basic approach.

These standards are however, necessarily given their scope, aimed at the broadest level of audit control and great emphasis is still implicitly placed on the professional knowledge and judgement of the individual auditor.

It is here, of course, that the role of certification of an auditor's level of competence becomes of special importance. In terms of the continued development of our field however, is it enough for us in the environmental auditing profession to present our client's with the comfort of our professional status? To assure them of our diligence, our objectivity and the appropriateness of our technical knowledge? That we have selected our audit team in line with the requirements of the audit and that our report has been signed off by an individual entitled to carry the badge of Lead Auditor?

Before we rush to answer such questions in the affirmative, we might care to consider the nature of some of the actions that can result from the audit reports to which we sign our names. Environmental audits are, after all, not just about management systems, about identifying weaknesses in document controls and about the completeness of document review. They can, and often do, result in significant changes to the fundamental operations of a business and at times may result in substantial capital expenditure, particularly in the areas of pollution prevention and control.

In circumstances where such decisions might be made wholly or partially as the result of the environmental audit I would argue that the client is entitled to a greater degree of comfort than the individual or even the corporate sense of professionalism on which we currently base our approach. In particular, the client should be able to have confidence that the environmental audit profession has, on a national if not an international basis, agreed the guiding principles that underpin the credibility of the audit process. Especially those principles that relate to the fundamentals of uniformity and consistency; the two underlying concepts that give the client comfort that the audit results are indeed independent of the auditor, and given no change in circumstances, can be expected to be repeated over time.

Canadian Environmental Auditing Association
1-6820 Kitimat Road,
Mississauga, Ontario Canada
L5N 5M3
Phone:(905) 567-4705
Fax: (905) 814-1158
email:

Website design and maintenance by
OfficePro, Systems Inc. - Internet Division

Last updated on ... September 8, 2000