Environmental Auditing
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Conducting environmental audits throughout the world
OMRON's internal environmental audits consist of corporate audits carried out by the Head Office environmental department and onsite internal audits based on each site's environmental management system. Regular external audits provided by ISO assessors also ensure that ISO 14001 requirements are met appropriately.
OMRON's Auditing Scheme and Auditing Items
| Type of audit | Auditing criteria |
|---|---|
| Corporate audits (All sites are subject to auditing once every two years) |
|
| Onsite internal audits (1 or 2 audits per year, according to each site's regulations) |
|
Auditing Items for Corporate Environmental Audits
| ISO 14001:2004 Requirements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Auditing Items | 4.1 | General Requirements |
| 4.2 | Environmental Policy | |
| 4.3.1 | Environmental Aspects (Survey/Evaluation/Registration Guidelines) | |
| 4.3.2 | Legal and Other Requirements | |
| 4.3.3 | Objectives, Targets, and Programs | |
| 4.4.1 | Structure and Responsibility | |
| 4.4.2 | Competence, Training, and Awareness | |
| 4.4.3 | Communications | |
| 4.4.4 | EMS Documentation | |
| 4.4.5 | Control of Documents | |
| 4.4.6 | Operational Control | |
| 4.4.7 | Emergency Preparedness and Response | |
| 4.5.1 | Monitoring and Measurement | |
| 4.5.2 | Evaluation of Compliance | |
| 4.5.3 | Non-conformances, Corrective and Preventive Action | |
| 4.5.4 | Control of Records | |
| 4.5.5 | Internal Audit | |
| 4.6 | Management Review | |
Auditing Items for Onsite Internal Audits
| Subjects of auditing | Progress of corporate-wide environmental action plan promotion | Compliance with applicable laws/regulations | Measures to reduce environmental risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auditing items | Environmental impact reduction targets and programs | Management of environmental laws/regulations (overall) | |
| Product assessment and creation of eco-label products | Water pollution prevention | ||
| Control of hazardous substances | Air pollution prevention | ||
| Green procurement | Noise/vibration prevention | ||
| Energy conservation | Odor prevention | ||
| Waste reduction and zero emissions | Waste management | ||
| Resource conservation | Community relations and reporting to authorities | ||
| Reduction of substances impacting the environment (air/water pollution) | Preservation of workplace environment | ||
| Indoor site audit | Outdoor site audit | ||
Results of corporate environmental audits
Corporate environmental audits focus on minimization of legal risk and environmental pollution risk, accelerated implementation of the corporate-level environmental action plan at each site based on the "Green OMRON 21" vision, improved quality of activities, confirming compliance with environmental laws/regulations, countermeasures against environmental pollution risk, and progress toward implementation of the corporate-level environmental action plan. As for issues revealed through audits, directives are issued to take counteractions and improvement measures. Concerned sites are required to review the work processes and systems to prevent the recurrence of similar problems.
In fiscal 2007, corporate audits were conducted for 11 sites in Japan and two production sites in China, namely OMRON (Dalian) Co., Ltd. and OMRON Electronic Components (Shenzhen) Ltd. Corporate audits for 11 Japanese sites identified one major problem and six minor problems as shown in the following table, while those for two Chinese sites revealed one minor problem with no major problem. This confirmed continued improvements in environmental activities at sites both in Japan and China, as well as significant reductions in environmental risk.
| Problems identified in Japan (11 sites) | Problems identified overseas (2 sites in China) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Classification | Number of problems | Classification | Number of problems |
|
Major problems |
1 |
Major problems |
0 |
|
Minor problems |
6 |
Minor problems |
1 |
(Points requiring improvement)
|
|||
Note: The above points were based on the evaluation criteria for corporate environmental audits.
Results of onsite internal environmental audits
In fiscal 2007, all ISO 14001-certified sites continued to conduct internal audits. The audits revealed no infringement of environmental laws and regulations, such as non-compliance with legal standards or failure to carry out legally required reporting. Also, there were no deficiencies found that could cause environmental pollution in local communities. However, some points requiring improvement were discovered regarding the operation of site-specific environmental management systems and overall environmental performance, as follows:
| Problems identified in Japan (all ISO 14001-certified sites in Japan) | Problems identified overseas (all ISO 14001-certified overseas sites) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Classification | Number of problems | Classification | Number of problems |
|
Major problems |
4 |
Major problems |
7 |
|
Minor problems |
219 |
Minor problems |
177 |
(Points requiring improvement)
|
|||
Note: The above points were based on auditing criteria for each site's EMS.
Training of internal environmental auditors
OMRON's internal environmental auditor training program consists of courses organized by the Head Office, and courses provided at individual sites throughout the world. As of April 2008, the OMRON Group has 851 trained internal environmental auditors.
