What are the requirements for Certified Professional Environmental Auditor (CPEA) certification?

1. Section 3 of the General Principles Guideline (14010) requires that “the audit should only be undertaken if, after consultation with the client, it is the lead auditor’s opinion that:”

2. Audit programs are typically designed to meet one or more of the following objectives Except:

3. An audit program is first and foremost a verification program. It is not meant to replace existing environmental management systems at the corporate (e.g., regulatory updating), division (e.g., capital planning for pollution control expenditures) or plant (e.g., NPDES discharge monitoring) levels. Indeed, the program should be designed to verify that these environmental management systems do, in fact, exist and are in use.

However, these benefits of audit can be offset by some real and potential costs including:

4. An auditing program is also one of many tools needed to develop and maintain an effective environmental management program. But identification of the deficiencies in compliance and management is only the first step. An organization must be willing to correct violations and other deficiencies and root causes in order to achieve improved results.

If an organization is unwilling to act upon the discovered deficiencies, the audits may become:

5. An audit program is first and foremost a verification program. It is not meant to replace existing environmental management systems at the corporate (e.g., regulatory updating), division (e.g., capital planning for pollution control expenditures) or plant (e.g., NPDES discharge monitoring) levels. Indeed, the program should be designed to verify that these environmental management systems do, in fact, exist and are in use.

On the positive side, audits can result in a number of significant benefits, including:

6. Environmental auditing has been developed for sound business reasons, particularly as a means:

7. An effective environmental auditing system will likely include all of the following general elements Except:

8. A CMS under the policy is defined as an “entity’s documented systematic efforts, appropriate to the size and nature of its business, to prevent, detect and correct violations” through the following CMS criteria:

9. It is also significant that the U.S. EPA may require, as a condition for penalty mitigation, that a description of an entity’s CMS be made:

10. The Audit Policy defines an environmental audit the same way as it is defined in the auditing policy: “a systematic, documented, periodic and objective review by regulated entities of facility operations and practices related to meeting environmental requirements.”

Note that this definition covers several types of environmental audits including:

11. If an entity might not be able to disclose the violation within the, the entity should contact the appropriate U.S. EPA office to develop disclosure terms acceptable to the U.S.EPA,

12. An audit program can achieve a variety of objectives. Historically, in most companies, compliance assurance has been the principal objective, with other, secondary objectives evolving along the way.

One company’s programs include the following five objectives Except:

13. One of the early keys to developing a successful program, regardless of the strategy selected, is commitment. Top management’s role at this stage is critical. Before any audits are conducted, management must develop and communicate a policy that supports the of an audit program.

14. Early in the development of the program, corporate management should designate a senior executive or staff member as the audit program director.

This director should be senior enough to establish and maintain the program’s:

15. The principles of an EH&S audit program are well known, but may be usefully summarized in the following points Except:

16. The protection of the environment is the responsibility:

17. Environmental damage:

18. Legislation may address environmental problems in which of the following ways:

19. To avoid liability for environmental damage caused by a former land owner a prospective purchaser of property should:

20. Environmental legislation is designed to:

21. In environmental audit may reveal:

22. A "clean" environmental audit:

23. Directors and officers of a corporation:

24. Legislation in most provinces:

25. Due diligence requires:

26. Environmental legislation arose in part due to:

27. Contamination of property poses a risk to lenders due to:

28. Directors and officers:

29. The Kyoto Protocol:

30. Environmental legislation: