Business internal environmental auditing

What is internal environmental auditing?

Internal environmental audits are the regular examination of your business' actual operating methods - comparing them against those set out in your environmental management system (EMS) manual. These can be reviews of procedures and areas of operation, and are designed to assess effectiveness.

Key aims of internal audits

An audit should help you identify:

• where your environmental management processes are working well
• where they need to be improved
• whether there are any new potential environmental risks

More specifically, the aims of the audit are to assess whether clear objectives and targets are being met and that your site:

• complies with the agreed policies, objectives and targets of your EMS
• has effective emergency procedures and control systems
• meets legal requirements
• meets the requirements of a formal EMS standard - if you are following one
• makes sure employees, contractors and suppliers have the skills needed and are given appropriate training
• makes provision for adequate communications