Planning the Audit

1
Planning the Audit

• EPA Regions 9 10
• and
• The Federal Network for Sustainability
• 2005

2
Audit Planning

• Addresses the specifics of what, where, who, when
  and how
• What are the audit objectives?
• Where will the audit be done? (i.e., scope)
• When will the audit(s) occur? (how long?)
• Who are the auditors?
• Who are the initial interviewees?
• How will the audit be done? (facility EMS
  procedure for auditing)

3
Audit Scope

• Can all elements be done throughout facility at
  one time, or divide up throughout the year.
• If divided, decide whether to do one element of
  the standard across the facility, or
• All elements in parts of the facility,
• Keep in mind consistency issue!

4
The Audit Team

• Must collectively have knowledge of
• EMS,
• Auditing,
• Process or activities,
• Environmental legal and other requirements,
• Environmental Science,
• Any unique, site-specific needs.

5
Auditing Skills
6
What is an Auditor?
An EMS Auditor obtains and documents objective
evidence to determine whether an organizations
EMS is in conformance with the appropriate
standards and requirements.
7
Auditor Attributes Discussion

• Working with other participants, please list
  some of the positive and negative attributes of
  an EMS auditor.

8
Auditor Qualification Criteria
An effective auditor should possess a combination
of

• Professional Skills
• People Skills
• Personal Attributes

9
Professional Skills

• Be detail oriented
• Maintain independence and objectivity
• Work in a systematic manner
• Use an investigative approach
• Identify appropriate sources of information
• Relate to all levels of personnel
• Use sound judgment based on objective evidence

10
People Skills

• Be a good listener
• Communicate clearly
• Deal with people openly and freely
• Use positive-feedback techniques
• Discuss issues without arguing and be patient
• Maintain the self-esteem of all parties

11
Personal Attributes

• Diplomatic
• Tactful
• Decisive
• Fair and honest
• Ethical

12
Maintaining Auditor Skills
To remain efficient, auditors should maintain
their current knowledge of

• Environmental science and technology
• Aspects of facility operations
• Environmental laws and regulations
• Environmental management systems
• Audit procedures, processes and techniques

13
Auditor Code of Ethics

• Due professional care should be exercised by all
  auditors including
• using care, diligence, skill and judgment
• not disclosing information, unless required by
  law
• following procedures that provide for quality
  assurance

14
Exercise 1

• Read Facility Description, Facility Newsletter,
  Candidate descriptions, Fact Sheet for GovCo,
• Group into Teams, Identify audit team (select
  appropriate candidates from candidate
  description, identify lead auditor,
• Complete EMS Audit Plan.