An environmental Audit is an assessment of a company's environmental performance. This assessment is carried out to ensure compliance with environmental rules and regulations and the effectiveness of management-control.
This assessment activity is not just an obligation, but the company's responsibility to minimize negative environmental impacts. This Audit is a controller for the company in order to maintain its image.
What Is Environmental Audit?
According to the regulation of the Minister of environment of the Republic of Indonesia Number 03 of 2013 on Environmental Audit, environmental audit is an evaluation to assess the compliance of the person in charge of business and/or activities to the legal and policy requirements set by the government.
A person who is authorized to give an assessment or evaluation is someone who has the competence to carry out an environmental audit. Both internal staff of the company and independent audit institutions.
Implementation of environmental audits can not be done with the procedures or assessment indicators of the company. Audits must be conducted in accordance with applicable regulations and standards. Companies can refer to ISO 14001, government regulations, and international protocols and agreements.
Objectives and functions of Environmental Audit
The implementation of environmental audits is intended for the following purposes.
- Evaluating the performance of the environmental division - assess the environmental performance of the company whether it is in accordance with the commitments and targets set or not.
- Assess company compliance - whether or not B3 licensing, emission standards, and waste management comply with applicable environmental regulations.
- Identify the problem - conducting early detection of environmental risks that have the potential to arise from the company's operational activities.
- Repair steps - suggest improvements to parts that are not yet environmentally friendly.
- Internal control - provide accurate information and data to monitor activities that have an impact on the environment, as a basis for decision making, and the preparation of environmental policies.
Types Of Environmental Audits
There are several types of environmental audits that can be carried out by companies, depending on the operational areas that have the highest level of risk.
1. Environmental Compliance
Environmental compliance Audit is an assessment made of the company's compliance with applicable regulations. The implementation of this audit is carried out to prevent the risk of legal sanctions due to violations of the rules.
2. Environmental Management
Environmental management audits are conducted to assess the effectiveness of the company's management policies and systems. Audit results can be used to strengthen the company's strategy in addressing the environment.
3. Operational Environment
An environmental operational Audit assesses the efficiency of the energy used by the company. Be it water, electricity, fossil fuels, and so forth. The assessment also includes the extent to which operational activities have an impact on the environment.
4. Environmental Liability
The last type of audit is an environmental liability audit that focuses on identifying potential legal liability resulting from the company's activities. The results of the audit can be the right mitigation measures so that the company can avoid losses.
Benefits Of Environmental Audit
1. Improve Regulatory Compliance
Audits on the part of the company's compliance with regulations, can help to avoid fines and sanctions due to violations of environmental rules. That way, the company does not need to spend money to bear it.
2. Reducing Environmental Risks
This assessment also allows the company to identify the negative impact on the environment due to the company's activities. Such as pollution, increased waste, excessive consumption of resources, to ecosystem damage.
3. Efficiency and cost saving
By assessing the effectiveness of the use of energy resources, companies can reduce energy and unused raw materials and avoid waste.
4. Improving Company Reputation
Audit activities carried out by the company indirectly indicate that the company is open for assessment of internal and external parties. This activity demonstrates its commitment to environmental sustainability and social responsibility.
Examples Of Environmental Audits
For example, the following environmental audit conducted at PT LGN. PT LGN is a manufacturing industry whose production activities produce liquid waste and air emissions. This audit process is carried out by an internal audit team and external consultants.
1. Audit Plan
- Objective: ensuring regulatory compliance and effectiveness of Environmental Management.
- Scope: management of liquid waste and B3 waste, use of energy and water, compliance with environmental permits and regulations, as well as control systems and environmental documentation
2. Audit Implementation
Audit activities carried out auditor.:
- Inspection of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)
- Reviewing documents on Environmental Management and environmental monitoring efforts (UKL-UPL) and environmental monitoring reports
- Interviews with production and environmental officers
- Testing waste samples at random
3. Audit Results
Based on the auditor's assessment, the following were found.
- Nonconformity of liquid waste management - parameters Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) on liquid waste exceeds quality standards in several reporting periods.
- Environmental documentation is not consistent - environmental monitoring reports are not fully documented and reported too late.
- Energy use is inefficient - electricity consumption of high production machines is not optimal.
- Regulatory compliance is not good enough - need improvement in operational control.
4. Follow-Up
To minimize negative environmental impacts and improve compliance with regulations, the company recommends several things. The company followed up with the following improvement steps.
- Improving the WWTP system
- Develop a new SOP related to environmental recording and reporting
- Perform energy efficiency
- Appoint a special environmental responsibility person to ensure compliance with the rules
Stages Of Environmental Audit
In general, the implementation of environmental audits takes place in the following five stages.
1. Planning
In the first stage, the auditor determines the main foundations of the Environmental audit to be carried out. This planning includes audit objectives, audit scope, audit standards and criteria, and audit methodology.
2. Data Collection
Furthermore, the auditor collects relevant data that supports audit needs and can be verified. These data can be obtained from field inspections, interviews, and document reviews.
3. Analysis and Evaluation
The environmental audit process takes place at the third stage. At this stage, the auditor processes the data, analyzes, evaluates, and assesses the data collected.
Such as comparing company practices with applicable regulations, identifying nonconformities, weaknesses in environmental treatment systems, potential risks in the future, to the effectiveness of environmental controls applied by the company.
4. Reporting of Audit results
The Auditor reports the results of the audit in the audit results report. The report contains findings, environmental impact analysis, and improvement recommendations.
5. Follow-Up
The last stage is the process of follow-up by the company to the recommendations or suggestions of the auditor. This process remains supervised by auditors to ensure audit results have a real impact on the company. At this stage, the company's management can draw up an action plan and the teams that will be in charge of it.
Closing
Environmental Audit becomes an integral part that supports the sustainability of the company's business operations. An important tool that can provide assurance of regulatory compliance, risk identification, and improve the company's reputation.
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