ISO 14001 and EMAS both have requirements regarding internal audits. Under EMAS, procedures should be audited at intervals no longer than three years, i.e. all the procedures should be audited at least once every three years. ISO 14001 only requires procedures to be audited periodically. In practice, the audit cycle for procedures is generally one year.

Key:

Audit Scheduled

Audit Completed and Satisfactory

Audit Completed and Unsatisfactory

Follow Up Audit Date

Corrective Action Follow Up Audit Satisfactory

The organisations audit programme and the frequency of audits should be guided by the nature of the operation in terms of its significant environmental aspects and impacts, and the results of previous audits. This means that a procedure covering the operation of a trade effluent plant where the discharges have to be within legal limits, should be audited more frequently than a less environmentally critical procedure such as management review.

However, if previous audits of the management review procedure showed that the function was not being properly carried out, the audit schedule should be modified by including more frequent audits of the management review procedure.