Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 12.1
The EMS Audit Process
Contact auditee
Confirm audit objectives
Appoint lead auditor/audit team
Define audit scope and timeline
Initiating
the Audit
A mining audit is commonly based
on a combination of staff interviews,
pre-site visit document reviews and a
site visit to the mine.
Prepare and communicate audit plan
Assign audit team responsibilities
Develop health and safety plan
Collect and review secondary data/information
Preparing
the Audit
Hold health and safety briefing/opening meeting
Collect audit evidence
Review audit findings
Hold close out meeting
Executing
the Audit
Prepare draft audit report
Distribute audit report for comments
Finalize reporting
Archive audit documentation
Audit Report
and Records
and issues to be addressed rather than a detailed audit questionnaire commonly applied to
environmental due-diligence audits. There is no questionnaire that gives full respect to the
complex nature of a mine operation. A detailed checklist would also force the site visit into
a rigid structure and would most likely result in missing critical issues. The Australian
Mineral Industry has developed a useful Code Progress Assessment Protocol Survey, 1999,
to guide auditing of the mine management systems. A Rapid Assessment Method for
assessing the environmental performance of a mine is presented in
Appendix 12.1
.
When implementing the audit protocol, auditors should exercise the professional care,
diligence, skill and judgment expected of any auditor in similar circumstances. The audit
team/client relationship should be one of coni dentiality and discretion. Unless required to
do so by law, the audit team should not disclose information or documents obtained dur-
ing the audit or the i nal audit report to any third party without the approval of the client.
The audit team should follow the audit protocol designed to provide quality assurance.
A detailed checklist would also
force the site visit into a rigid
structure and would most likely
result in missing critical issues.
Selecting the Audit Team
The i rst and most important step in any audit programme is the selection of the audit
team. The audit team may consist of one to i ve people, depending on the size of the oper-
ation. An environmental audit conducted by a single auditor is relatively rare and usually
occurs only for small to medium-sized operations, or to auditing of a few selected audit
segments. An audit team may comprise a mixture of external and internal personnel.
External auditors bring a fresh perspective to an operational site, and if senior enough, can
provide benchmark auditing, comparing practices at the subject site to practices at other
mines. It is important to include professionals from the host country in any audit team.
The audit team should be selected based on auditing experience, mining expertise, regula-
tory expertise, working experience in the host country, familiarity with similar mining opera-
tions, proven cultural sensitivity and the ability to communicate appropriately with different
The audit team should be
selected based on auditing
experience, mining expertise,
regulatory expertise, working
experience in the host country,
familiarity with similar mining
operations, proven cultural
sensitivity and the ability to
communicate appropriately with
different levels of personnel.
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