Environmental Audit Guidance Manual

This guidance manual sets out the expectations of the DOE in meeting the requirements of Section 33A, Environmental Quality Act, 1974. The manual facilitates the understanding on the legal requirements and help the industry and developer prepare to be audited. The contents of the manual also provide audit practitioners with:
a. Guidelines for conducting compliance-type environmental audits
b. Basic information for the conduct of environmental risk assessments that are provided for in the regulation.
c. Requirements on the follow-up of the environmental audit or risk assessment.
d. Roles and responsibilities of the various parties in the different stages of the audit process

The environmental audit manual will cover the basic audit methodology – when to conduct an audit, auditor selection, roles and responsibilities of the environmental auditor, the audit tasks, the audit protocol and the environmental audit report. The functional use of the audit report by the organization shall be discussed in relation to DOE’s expectations for regulatory compliance. The term ‘organization’ here is used interchangeably with ‘auditee’ to denote the “occupier or owner required to carry out an environmental audit” as requested under Section 33A, Environmental Quality Act, 1974. The environmental audit methodology described in this manual is designed to meet the requirements of DOE for the regulatory compliance-type audit. It is expected that the compliance-type audit will also assess the environmental management system that is in place in the organization. The audit methodology will be provided together with sample checklists that can be used during the pre-audit and on-site audit phases. The standard of auditing as prescribed in this manual has taken into consideration the guidelines in the ISO19011: Auditing Standards. This manual will also briefly describe some examples of the types of risk assessments that may be required by DOE.