Environmental Health and Safety - Scholarship Essay Example

The purpose of this research is to investigate the reasons why companies perform environmental audits in their business operations. One of which was the increasing regulatory pressures. Of course, in order to stay in the competitive market, the company must ensure that they comply with all the applicable environmental regulations promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) and other national, local and federal agencies. Another notable reason was to make sure that they meet all the necessary requirements of safety standards designed to promote their continuous development.

The auditing requires systematic and comprehensive review of all the aspects within the business which include the properties, facilities, processes and operations. The investigation results will then serve as the guideline and baseline information in order to evaluate and assess the performance of the company. Because of the available updates on EH&S, the problems and deficiencies can be easily identified and can be corrected immediately before it becomes severe and can create more damages.

To simplify, environmental auditing is about reducing or mitigating possible risk that may arise in the workplace. This makes sure that the businesses activities have no negative impact instead safeguard the environment as well as promote human health and safety for a total satisfaction. It can also identify possible cost saving, such as waste minimization, avoid fines and penalties and also avoid hospitalization costs due to accidents in the worksite. The growing public awareness can also be attributed for the sudden need of companies to conduct environmental audits.

Since, several reports highlighted workplace hazards and accidents more and more became conscious and demand higher standard of EH&S.  Aside from these reasons, environmental auditing was also conducted by many companies in order enhance their image and reputation. Usually, this was used to promote their own companies by just stating that they adhere to the highest standards in work site safety. Question 4:  List, and briefly explain, the elements which should be planned in a successful audit program.

In order to have a successful environmental audit, several elements should be properly and well planned which include the following: 1.      Goals and Objectives Basically, before any undertakings, the company should state and establish their clear outline of goals and objectives they wanted to achieve after the audit program. This will help and guide them to easily formulate