Performing environmental audits: An engineer's guide
- Cohen, Shapiro, Polisher, Shiekman and Cohen, Lawrenceville, NJ (United States)
Today, environmental auditing is both a technical exercise and a legal art. To perform a comprehensive and effective environmental audit requires a team of individuals who combined have broad engineering skills, a knowledge of chemistry, and specialized legal experience with all the relevant environmental regulations. Because the audit involves such highly qualified individuals, it is typically quite expensive. Nonetheless, the cost is well worth the investment, because of the high stakes involved in environmental legislation and litigation. Simply put, the cost of non-compliance can far outweigh the costs associated with a comprehensive audit. The paper describes starting the audit, the ideal team, a standard method, doing a compliance audit, data analysis after the audit, advantages and disadvantages, and policies on auditing. The paper briefly describes the four factors that the Department of Justice considers in deciding whether to bring criminal prosecution for violation of an environmental statute. The four factors are: voluntary disclosure; cooperation; preventive measures and compliance program; and pervasiveness of non-compliance.
- OSTI ID:
- 5168651
- Journal Information:
- Chemical Engineering (New York); (United States), Vol. 101:2; ISSN 0009-2460
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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