Environmental Auditing

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)	"Green OMRON 21" Environmental Action Plan (including FY2007 environmental target guides for business companies) Environmental laws/regulations and other requirements Corporate-level environmental rules Measures for environmental risks
Onsite internal audits (1 or 2 audits per year, according to each site's regulations)	ISO 14001:2004 requirements Provision of each site's environmental management system documents Applicable laws/regulations for each site and other requirements Each site's environmental objectives/targets and action plans

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
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） Omissions in response due to insufficient notice of additional provisions for consignment contracts for disposal of industrial waste accompanying amendments to law Partial omissions in reflecting the latest versions in the list of laws and regulations Inadequate implementation of product assessment for design changes Partial omission and error in data entry in corresponding items of waste manifest Use of banned substances, as stipulated in the corporate regulations, in some facilities

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） Incomplete extract of environmental aspects through environmental impact assessment, or failure in information updates Delayed progress for formulation of divisional objectives/targets due to insufficient penetration of corporate-wide environmental objectives/targets across all divisions Invalid copies of permissions for waste disposal subcontractors due to expiration (immediately took counteraction) Insufficient product assessment in new product development Omissions in implementing chemical substance assessment when introducing new substances Omissions in keeping records for emergency education/training Partial omissions in acquiring MSDS (Material Data Safety Sheets) Omissions in keeping records for training/tests for emergency response Incomplete content or omissions in data entry for environmental documents; other points needing improvement related to marking and operation records

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.

Number of Internal Environmental Auditors

Internal Environmental Auditors