NAME: ‘MAPASEKA

SURNAME: MPOPO

STUDENT NUMBER: 66157447

MODULE NAME: INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND

AUDITING

MODULE CODE: HES4811

ASSIGNMENT: THREE

ASSIGNMENT UNIQUE NUMBER: 323884

DUE DATE: 30 August 2021

EMAIL: 66157447@mylife.unisa.ac.za

CONTACTS: +266 68889383

M.MPOPO 66157447

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACTIVITY 3.1............................................................................................................................................3
ACTIVITY 3.1.2.........................................................................................................................................3
ACTIVITY 3.2............................................................................................................................................4
ACTIVITY 3.3............................................................................................................................................5
ACTIVITY 3.4............................................................................................................................................7
Activity 3.5.............................................................................................................................................11
Activity 3.6.............................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................15

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ACTIVITY 3.1

According to the International Chamber of Commerce (1989), an environmental audit is a

management tool that aids in the protection of the environment through episodic, documented,
and structured evaluation. This is done through assessing the competence of an organization with
its policies, monitoring requirements, and all the standards applicable.

An environmental audit is a process whereby concerns and non-conformances relating to

environmental compliance are brought up, evaluated, and reported on so as to help correct them
while improving the positive impacts and reducing the negative impacts and ensuring
environmental protection and health of the employees (Arvanitoyannis, 2008)

It is further described as an inspection of environmental activities, products and services for a

particular organization which may affect it in a negative way (Ingole, 2012). Ingole (2012)
further explains that this a management tool used to ensure that an organization puts into practice
sustainable methods. He further explains that there are different kinds of audits and these include
but are not limited to; waste audits, compliance audits, and water quality monitoring audits.

ACTIVITY 3.1.2

According to ISO 14001 (2015: 4) Competence is “the ability to apply knowledge and skills to
achieve intended results.”

A competent ISO auditor is a qualified person with relevant knowledge, skills and qualifications
of an auditor and they should possess the knowledge of management systems and processes, the
ISO certification processes, should have interviewing skills as well as audit management skills
(FitzGerald, 2020).

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ACTIVITY 3.2

According to DEAT (2014), an Environmental Audit is “a process whereby an organization’s

environmental performance is tested against its environmental policies and objectives. These
policies and objectives need to be clearly defined and documented.”

One type of an environmental audit is the Environmental Management Audit whereby this is
considered as the first stage of auditing in the operational phase of a project and it is used as the
basis that determines the effectiveness of an Environmental Management System (EMS) (DEAT,
2014). The effectiveness of the EMS is then evaluated through specified procedures, works
related instructions, project specifications and policies as well as the environmental management
plan (DEAT, 2014).

Another type of environmental audit is an Environmental Compliance Audit which tests an

organization’s legal compliance by evaluating and determining whether the policies, the
standards and regulations and other governing laws are followed and complied to (DEAT, 2014).
Examples include compliance of necessary permit and license requirements such as waste
permits, water use licenses, storage and handling of hazardous waste and substances (Iwanski &
Thurman, 1993b).

The other type of an environmental audit is the Environmental Due Diligence Audit whereby the
potential environmental impacts are determined before the commencement of a project or
purchase of an industrial property (DEAT, 2014). It evaluates the risks associated with the
purchase of such a property and seeks to weigh the pros against the cons. Types of due diligence
audits include determining where there is hazardous waste that has been previously dumped on
that area before which might cause contamination to groundwater and create other health or
environmental health risks (DEAT, 2014). It is imperative to ensure that no environmental
liabilities are incurred by the owner when purchasing a site or property, as this may lead to huge
cost implications (clean-up costs) and fines.

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ACTIVITY 3.3

3.3.1

Principles of auditing aid in ensuring that the audit process is an effective and reliable tool that
supports management policies (ISO 19011, 2018). This is done through providing reliable and
adequate information or feedback on which an organization can use to enhance its overall
performance (ISO 19011, 2018).

3.3.2

a) Integrity: an auditor is expected to carry out their work in the most diligent and ethical
manner as possible. They should carry out an audit only when they are qualified and experienced
to do, should be mindful of not unbiased and should be sensitive to external influences that may
affect their decisions.

b) Fair presentation: the auditors should ensure that their findings are presented in a truthful
manner and are accurate and precise and are a true reflection of the actual findings. These should
be articulated in a clear and concise manner.

c) Due professional care: the auditors are required to perform their task with professionalism
and make sound judgements on their audit findings. This will earn them the trust from their
client who requested the undertaking of the audit. Appropriate and necessary skills should be
applied during an audit.

d) Confidentiality: this principle states that auditors need to be confidential and trustworthy.
Protection of information of audit findings and personal discretion should be exercised to ensure
no malice or personal gain is used against the auditees. This also includes handling of
confidential information to ensure that there restricted access to such information.

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e) Independence: the audit outcome and findings should strictly be independent of the auditor
without any outside influence and should never be biased. The auditor should by all means not
be in anyway affiliated with the department that is being audited to ensure that there will be no
bias and that there will not be any conflict of interest.

f) Evidence-based approach: all the audit findings should be justifiable and should be evidence
based to ensure that they are a true reflection of what is on the ground. They should be able to
provide concrete proof of the evidence listed in their findings.

g) Risk-based approach: an audit should prioritize on high-risk areas to ensure that the audit
objectives are reached. This should be exercised in the planning, conducting and audit reports.

3.3.3
 Principle (a) – Integrity: the auditors have shown lack of integrity because they failed to
carry out their work in the most diligent and ethical manner, they seemed to have been
biased although there were a lot of non-compliances these were not clearly stipulated in
the reports or their findings.
 Principle (b) – fair presentation was violated by the auditors and none of their audit
findings was a true reflection of what is actually happening in the organization. They
failed to report truthfully and accurately due to failure to report on the pollution of water
resources, unacquired licenses and impractical implementation of plans developed.
 Principle (c) – “due professional care” the auditors failed to exercise professionalism and
make sound judgements on their audit findings. This is seen where the auditors have
given full compliance on their reports although this is not a true reflection of the actual
findings.
 Principle (f) – evidence-based approach: this principle was not observed merely for the
fact that there was no supporting evidence which backed up the audit reports as they state
that there is compliance in some of the non-compliance areas
 Principle (g) – risk-based approach: the pollution of water is a huge environmental
violation and as such should have been prioritized as high risk, instead there was
pollution of water resources and this violates section 151(i) and (j) of the National Water

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Act, 1998. This did not reach audit objective which is to find key non-compliance issues
and report on them for remedial action.

ACTIVITY 3.4

3.4.1
An Audit Programme is a schedule that specifies date and time of the audit activities in
preparation of the audit while an audit plan is a detailed plan of the activities that will take place
on a specified time of the audit (ISO 19011, 2018). An audit Programme should seek to include
all the information that will enable the audit to be conducted in an effective manner (ISO 19011,
2018).

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 STEP 2
3.4.2 STEP 3
6.2 Initiating an audit
6.2.1 General 6.3 Preparing audit activities
6.2.2 Establishing contact with 6.3.1 Performing review of documented information
the auditee 6.3.2 Audit planning
STEP 1 6.3.3 Assigning work to audit team
6.2.3 Determining the feasibility
of an audit 6.3.4 Preparing documented information for audit
6.1 Determining the
objectives and scope of
the audit

STEP 7 STEP 6

6.7 Conducting audit follow-up

6.6 Completing audit

STEP 5
6.5 Preparing and distributing
audit report
6.5.1 Preparing audit report
6.5.2 Distributing audit report
STEP 4
6.4 Conducting audit activities
6.4.1 General
6.4.2 Assigning roles and responsibilities of guides and observers
6.4.3 Conducting opening meeting
6.4.4 Communicating during audit
6.4.5 Audit information availability and access
6.4.6 Reviewing documented information while auditing
6.4.7 Collecting and verifying information
6.4.8 Generating audit findings
6.4.8 Determining audit conclusions
6.4.10 Conducting closing meeting
3.4.3
There are three common steps to an Environmental Audit. These are Planning of the Audit (Pre-
Audit), An “On-site Audit” where audit activities will be carried out as well as “Post Audit.”

An audit plan is developed in preparation for key on-site audit activities. The main purpose of an
audit plan is to make way for essential arrangements and preparations for that specific on-site
audit. According to Iwanski & Thurman, (1993a) The following items need to be identified in an
audit plan:

(a) Location of the audit, the scope and objectives of the audit, a site walkabout with a
detailed visual inspection to list audit findings.
(b) An audit schedule should be prepared well ahead of time and ready and made available to
all the auditees and the auditors.
(c) An audit team should be clearly defined, logistic and administrative arrangement need to
be prepared well in time as well.

After an audit plan should follow checklists and or questionnaires that will be used during the
audit. In these checklists there should be key environmental issues that will be audited on
emergency preparedness plans, material safety data sheets, water quality monitoring reports,
waste management, noise and dust monitoring and other least essential environmental issues.

During an On-Site audit, there should be an opening meeting where all the team members
introduce themselves and familiarize themselves with the surroundings (Wessels, 2021). A
necessary health and safety induction is done prior to this, this also helps the audit team to get
familiar with the health and safety of that area (Wessels, 2021).

Then follows a step whereby all the team members go for a site walkabout to do a visual
inspection while noting down all relevant and key environmental issues (Iwanski & Thurman,
1993a). In this process, questions are asked, and this is where the questionnaires and checklist
are used to compare the documented information and the information on the ground (Iwanski &
Thurman, 1993a).
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After the detailed site inspection and gathering audit evidence, the audit finding are evaluated by
all the audit members to give a detailed observation and summary of the finding during the audit
(Iwanski & Thurman, 1993a). A close-out meeting is held where all the summary of the finding
are briefly discussed as well as key environmental issues, and audit register is then signed by
everyone who was present at the audit (Wessels, 2021).

This process is followed by reporting of the all the audit findings – post audit. Here a report is
produced with all the non-conformances and conformities and it highlight key areas that require
an improvement (Iwanski & Thurman, 1993a). The auditors come up with possible action plans
and the due date or timeframe of when the action plan should be incorporated, and they give a
possible date for the next audit.

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Activity 3.5
3.5.1
True/
No. Statement
False
 
Our organization need to achieve
enhancement of environmental
a) performance as the only intended
outcome of the ISO 14001:2015-
based EMS.
 
Our organization must
document the scope of their
b)
environmental management
system.
 
Our organization use unestablished
criteria to determine those aspects
c) that have or can have a significant
environmental impact, i.e.,
significant environmental aspects.
d) A life cycle perspective is to be  
applied when identifying the
environmental aspects associated
with its activities, products, and
Clause(s) and Explanation
False  
In ISO 14001 (2015: 7) Clause 4.4 -
Environmental management system: “To
achieve the intended outcomes, including its
environmental performance, the organization
shall establish, implement, maintain and
continually improve an environmental
management system, including the processes
needed and their interactions, in accordance
with the requirements of this international
standard.”
There should be enhanced environmental
performance by continually improving its
EMS and this is not the only intended
outcome of ISO
True  In ISO 14001 (2015:7) Clause 4.3 –
Determining the scope of the
environmental management system: “The
scope shall be
maintained as documented information and
be available to interested parties”.
The statement agrees with the clause that
the scope must be documented
False  
In ISO 14001 (2015: 7) Clause 6.1.2 –
“The organization shall determine those
aspects that have or can have a significant
environmental impact, i.e., significant
environmental aspects, by using established
criteria.”
The clause says an established criteria should
be used to determine aspects that can have an
environmental impact while the
organization’s statement says otherwise
True  In ISO 14001 (2015:9) Clause 6.1 – Actions
to address risks and opportunities
“considering a life cycle perspective” for its
products, services and activities.”
The clause agrees with the statement that
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when assessing risk and opportunities, the

services.
life cycle perspective should be applied.
 False  In Clause 7.4 – Communication “ensure that
Our organization shall environmental information communicated
is consistent with information generated
communicate relevant
within the environmental management
environmental performance system, and is reliable”
e) information internally as identified
Environmental communication should be
in its communication process[es] consistent with environmental information
according to the clause, while the statement
and as required by its compliance
of the organization says only
obligations. environmental information and it should be
internal
False  In Clause 6.1.3 – Compliance Obligation
“The organization then needs to consider
appropriate actions to address the
Our organization may consider significant aspects/impacts, compliance
obligations (6.1.3) and risks and
f) understanding its conformance
opportunities identified”
status with compliance obligations.
The statement uses the “May” which
makes it optional while the clause clearly
defines that this should be done
Source: (ISO 14001,2015)

3.5.2
Finding [must contain time + place + evidence in document+
Finding No. Clause
requirement]
During the audit, there is no signature from top management that
shows commitment, and that top management has done the following:
“establish, implement and maintain an environmental policy that,
01  5.2a within the defined scope of its environmental management system
includes a commitment to fulfil its compliance obligations” – (ISO
14001, 2015)
 
02  5.2e During the audit, the organization has proven to commit to sustainable
development although but nowhere it states in the policy that they are
committed to continual improvement – ISO 14001 (2015) states “top
management shall establish, implement and maintain an
environmental policy that, within the defined scope of its
environmental management system includes a commitment to
continual improvement of the environmental management system to
enhance environmental performance”

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 During the audit, no prove of documented evidence showing

observing of regulatory and or voluntary compliance, although this
03  5.2d
clause clearly defines that it should be shown “include commitment to
fulfill compliance obligation” – (ISO 14001, 2015)

Activity 3.6

3.6.1

1. Provisional auditor
This is an entry level auditor and is not recognized by South African National Accreditation
System (SANAS) simply because it considers qualifications, academic background as well as the
duties they perform because they perform based on letters that are not accredited instead of
appropriate certificates (SAATCA, 2018).

2. Auditor grade

This grade is competent auditors who have accredited certificates as well as issuance certificates.
They are considered as quite informed, and they engage in audits within a team (SAATCA,
2018).

3. Lead auditor grade

These are the auditors who are considered well equipped to facilitate audits and monitor or lead
audit teams based on their qualifications and experience. They get lead auditor registration cards
on top of their qualifications (SAATCA, 2018).

4. Internal auditor grade

These auditors can only conduct audits at the organization where they are employed hence the
word “internal”. They need professional qualifications and adequate work experience to facilitate
these audits. If competent, they should have certificates as well as internal audit registration
cards (SAATCA, 2018).

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3.6.2
I have a BSc in Environmental Management, and currently working as an environmental control
officer. I have adequate and professional experience (2 years) auditing sub-contractors and
therefore I would consider myself to fall under Auditor Grade although I do not yet have any
certificates in Auditing or audit registration cards.

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Plagiarism declaration
I Mapaseka Mpopo confirm that this assignment is my own work, is not copied from any other
person’ work (published or unpublished) and has not been previously submitted for assessment
either at Unisa or elsewhere. I confirm that I have read and understood the learning unit on
plagiarism and the university regulations on plagiarism in the policy on research ethics policy.
Signature: M. Mpopo
Date: 25/08/2021

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REFERENCES

DEAT (Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism)., 2004. Environmental Auditing,

Integrated Environmental Management, Information Series 14, Department of

Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), Pretoria.

FitzGerald, D. J. (2020, July 19). What is ISO Auditor Competence and Who Decides on It?

Retrieved from info.degrandson.co.uk website: https://info.degrandson.co.uk/blog/iso-

auditor-competence

Ingole, S. P. (2012). Environmental Auditing: Its Benefits and Countenance. International

Journal of Science Innovations and Discoveries an International peer, 2(5), 152-156.

Retrieved August 26, 2020, from https://www.researchgate.net

International Chamber of Commerce. (1989). Environmental auditing. Paris: International

Chamber of Commerce.

ISO (International Organization for Standardization). 2015. ISO 14001 – Environmental

management systems - Requirements with guidance for use. ISO. Geneva.

ISO (International Organization for Standardization). 2016. ISO 14004 – Environmental

management systems — General guidelines on implementation. ISO. Geneva.

Iwanski, M. L., & Thurman, J. R. (1993a). Toward effective environmental auditing at the TVA:

Management audits versus compliance audits. Environmental Quality Management, 3(2),

169–176. https://doi.org/10.1002/tqem.3310030206

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SAATCA (Southern African Auditor and Training Certification Authority., 2018. Management

System Auditors Criteria. Available at http://www.saatca.co.za/wp-

content/uploads/2018/05/CRT-6-9-Criteria-for-Certification-Environmental-

Management-System-Auditor-rev-8.pdf (accessed on 25/09/2020)

Wessels, J. (2021). Lesson 3. Lecture Notes. Key steps of environmental audits, HES4811.

University of South Africa.

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