Environmental auditing is a management tool comprising a systematic, documented, periodic and objective evaluation of how well, the environmental organization, management and equipment within an enterprise are performing. Environmental auditing process has the aim of promoting efficiency and helping to safeguard the natural and built environment by: (i) facilitating management and control of activities that impact on the environment; and (ii) assessing compliance with company policies which include meeting regulatory requirements and operating to defined standards. Building on SSPL3022 students develop skills used in the formal process of environmental auditing and to ensure that graduating candidates have a good working knowledge of the process of corporate environmental management.
The syllabus includes the following elements:
- examine the concept of environmental auditing and describe its role in environmental management;
- address the various categories of environmental audit used in practice;
- describe the tasks associated with the pre-audit stage, the audit stage, and the post audit stage of evaluation and report writing;
- review the contribution of environmental auditing in verifying compliance with legislation, industry regulations, national and international standards, company policy and established targets;
- address the contribution of environmental auditing to the process of operational problem identification within a company, including operational deviations and tracking;
- address the process of environmental policy formulation and the role of environmental auditing in policy generation and modification;
- describe the role of environmental auditing in measuring environmental impact, both biophysical and socio-economic;
- review the significance of environmental auditing in the measurement of corporate environmental performance with respect to other organizations (relative position);
- examine the central role of environmental auditing in ensuring the effectiveness of Environmental Management Systems;
- describe the role of environmental auditing in the generation of a database for corrective action, future plans and corporate environmental strategic development;
- describe the contribution of environmental auditing to the process of corporate public relations and stakeholder communications.
The method of assessment for this module involves a continuous assessment assignment which will develop the learners awareness of current theories and practices in environmental auditing. The module will also be assessed by a theoretical end of semester examination
| Module Content & Assessment | |
|---|---|
| Assessment Breakdown | % |
| Formal Examination | 60 |
| Other Assessment(s) | 40 |