The power and value of environmental health and safety audits

✍ Scribed by David Rainer; Kenneth Kretchman; John Cox

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 390 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1074-9098
• DOI: 10.1016/s1074-9098(00)00078-2

✦ Synopsis

ross-functional Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) audits represent one small, but very significant facet of an organization's EH&S management system. Over the last decade, worldwide there have been a substantial number of EH&S initiatives, guidelines, and standards that promote the use of environmental health and safety audits in defining an organization's baseline performance, establishing goals, and monitoring progress toward achieving these goals. Responsible Care, 1 the European Union (EU) Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), 2 and the ISO 14000 3 series standards all call for the use of internal and/or independent third-party audits in measuring EH&S performance. In this article, we will discuss the use of internal cross-functional EH&S au-dits in engaging all levels of management in leading, prioritizing, and implementing safety, health, and environmental programs in a university environment.