Environmental Compliance Audit and Due Diligence

Environmental compliance audit

An environmental compliance audit checks whether a facility is actually doing what its consents, clearances and statutory obligations require - and, just as importantly, whether it can produce the evidence. Most adverse findings we see are not caused by poor practice. They are caused by good practice that was never recorded.

What a compliance audit examines

• Every numbered condition in your Consent to Operate, with the evidence for each
• Conditions attached to your Environmental Clearance, where applicable, and the compliance reports filed against them
• Actual production measured against consented capacity
• Operation and performance of the ETP and air pollution control equipment, backed by operating logs
• Hazardous waste storage, manifests, returns and authorised disposal, reconciled against each other
• Completeness of monitoring data for every required parameter and period
• Statutory returns and the annual Form-V Environmental Statement
• Whether findings from the previous audit were closed with dated evidence

Self audit, third-party audit and due diligence

• Self audit - internal review for readiness and continuous improvement
• Third-party audit - conducted independently, which is what carries weight with regulators
• Due diligence - environmental liability assessment ahead of an acquisition, lease or financing decision, where undisclosed contamination or an open non-compliance becomes the buyer's problem