A system for safety

In this article, Peter Duncan, specialist discipline lead and a project technical lead within our Environmental Services team, considers environmental and health and safety (EHS) compliance auditing with a focus on compliance audits as opposed to management system audits. EHS audits consist of three phases: pre-audit preparation, on-site audit, and post-audit report and follow-up.

Peter explains that the audit process should be driven by a clearly defined scope that includes the standards or requirements on which the audit is predicated. If the focus of the audit is EHS regulatory compliance, it is important both auditor and auditee understand that regulatory compliance is the standard to be achieved. Other standards or requirements, for example, may include management systems, company policies or operating procedures.