Source: E-mail
dt. 11.11.2011
Dr. M. Krishnaveni
Assistant
Professor, Department of Commerce,
LRG
Government Arts College for Women, Tirupur – 4, Tamilnadu, India
On
a bid to define the Environmental Audit,
it may be stressed that it is a critical analysis of (I) Policies (ii) Principles (iii) systems (iv)
Procedures (v) Practices and (vi)
Performance of the aspects which relates to the Environment. The EP Act, 1986,
defined environment in the lines that “ Environment includes water, air and
land, and the inter-relationship which exists among and between water, land,
human beings, other living creatures, plants, micro-organism and property” But
a standard scope of Environment Audit as ought to be defined and adopted by
standard companies, should be as follows “A management tool comprising of a
systematic, documented, periodic and objective evaluation of how well
environmental organization, management and equipment are performing with the
aim of helping to safeguard the environment by:
(i)
Facilitating
management control of environment process,
(ii)
Assessing
compliance with company policies which would include meeting regulatory
requirements”.
The
need for the environmental study of the industries are:
(i)
To evaluate the
efficacy of the utilization of resources of man, machines and materials, and
(ii)
To identify the
areas of environmental risks and liabilities and weakness/ es
of management system and problems in compliance of the directives of the
regulatory agencies.
(iii)
To control the
generation of pollutants and waste.
As the Environment Audit, especially
in India, is still in its infancy. The information usually gathered in the
course of Environmental Audit is only what is required for the compliance of
the Statutory requirements, i.e. for water Act, 1974,
Air Act, 1981, etc and the environment clearance required before establishing
an industry. Through the acceptance of total Eco-system steps on all industrial
units have not been encouraging due to the reservation of the industrial units, Still a stringent step by the States Concerned is
becoming a vital matter which must be put into consideration of all industrial
units which directly or indirectly interface in the orderliness of the
Eco-system.
The main areas of the
environmental areas of the industries are as follows:
1.
Layout and Design: The layout to be sketched in style which will allow adequate provisions
for installing pollution Control devices, as well as provisions for upgradation of pollution measures and meeting the requirement of the regulation framed by
the government. In the course of audit,
the areas which requires attention but not attended to by the industry to be
pinpointed as well as the future requirements of the environmental measures
required in commensuration with the future course of working plan are to be
identified
2.
Management of resources: It includes air, water, land, energy, raw materials
and human resources besides others. The uses of all resources are inter-linked
and the best uses of resources in a synchronized manner results the best output
and minimum wastage. The wastage of resources to the minimum possible extent is
good for the health of the industry.
3. Pollution
Control System: An effective
pollution control system should be in existence. One aspect should be whether
all required pollution control measures are in vogue or not and the next aspect
should be whether the same is effective or not. Further it is to investigate,
whether more measures are required, keeping in view the type of industry and
its nature of working with respect to it’s
grade of polluting environment.
4.
Emergent Safety Arrangement: The chemical, gas, etc industries ,
in which are prone to sudden requirement of safety arrangement, must be kept
alert all the while. The emergency plans are to be reviewed periodically,
sufficient staff along with other required safety amenities should be kept. The
staff must possess the required awareness and alertness to meet the
contingency.
5.
Medical and Health Care Facilities: The medical services should be maintained. The health
of the workers should be a big consideration for the management.
6.
Industrial Hygiene: Proper system should be in vogue to eliminate industrial unhygienic
state. As the occupational health hazards varies from industry to industry due
to the difference in the nature of working atmosphere and pollutants present in it, the concerned industry must pay proper
weightage to those diseases which are prone to that
particular type of industry.
7.
Information Assimilation and Reporting System: The information system should be strengthened and its
reporting system should be proper, keeping in view, the authorities,
responsibilities and subsequent delegations. A report of compliance of all
statutory environmental laws along with other preventive and precautionary
measures should be put to Board at regular intervals.
8.
EIA
Methodology: The Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) is usually a pre-requisite to start an industry.
9.
Compliance to the Regulatory Mechanism: As the persons who are directly working with the system,
may be unaware of the latest development and requirement for the compliance of
stipulation and standards prescribed by the various regulatory authorities,
they should be trained and instructed on regular basis, to avoid making the
Board / Owner Vulnerable to prosecution and penalty. This is done considering
the known spheres of activities of the existing environmental conditions. But
the predictions necessarily deviate from the actual happenings when the
industry starts working. To accommodate the deviation in the system it is also to be incorporated in the
EIA report.
10. Concern for
the Society: The industry very often
transforms the agrarian environment into an industrial environment. The people
so displaced by industrialization feel alienated and are not prepared to face the gaseous, dustful,
clumsy state of surroundings. The audit should look into this aspect on how the
industry is making a balance between its own development and the Society’s
concern.
The audit is to be conducted at
regular interval, and internal audit should be supplemented to review the
efficiency, effectiveness and to identify the training requirements of the
audit staff. The small or medium unit does not call for an elaborate and / or
formal system, but somebody is to be given charge to look after the matter. But
when the concern is a big one, it needs a well-planned system. The
environmental audit is termed in different names with the difference of the
nature of its working:
1. Social Benefit Audit - is
used when industry deals mainly with huge acreage of land.
2. Emergency Planning and Response/Safety
Audit- is
used when it is a chemical industry.
3. Resource Audit- is
used when the resource consumption is very high, irrespective of the nature of
the industry.
Audit
Personnel
The audit personnel should be abreast of every minute details of all environmental legislations, should possess
the knowledge of all polluting agents and their arresting system. They should
be highly qualified with specialization in environmental science. They should also possess the knowledge of the
working of the concerned industry, but should not be associated with the day
to-day operations of the industry.
The probable format of Environment Statement should be
mandatory for all Indian industries. The various details to be incorporated in
the environmental audit form are name and address of the industry, date of last
environmental audit, consumption of water and other raw materials, pollution
generated in air and water, generation of hazardous waste, the disposal
practice for different types of waste, practices sorted for the conservation of
natural resources, additional investment proposal for environmental protection.
The study will help to ascertain the input of raw
materials and output to ascertain the balance, which is solid, liquid or
gaseous waste emitted to the environment. Also the steps
taken to abate the pollution. The study will also give the picture of
energy recovery by recycling the waste, the efficiency of the environmental
management and it will also recommend if any further long-term pollution free
operation can be employed.