Environment & Safety Compliance Audits

Environmental and occupational safety obligations in the UAE come from several directions at once: federal law, the emirate's own authority, the conditions written into your permits, the requirements your client has imposed by contract, and whatever your own HSE management system commits you to. A compliance audit establishes, on evidence, which of those obligations apply to your site and whether you are meeting them.

What we audit against

Legislation and permits

Requirements differ by emirate, by activity and by permit. In Abu Dhabi that means the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi for environmental permits and the OSHAD framework for occupational safety, together with the sector regulator's own requirements. In Dubai it means Dubai Municipality, or Trakhees where the site sits in a free zone or development area under PCFC. Federally it means the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and MOHRE. Other emirates apply their own environmental authorities, including EPAA in Sharjah. We identify the regime that actually governs your site rather than auditing against a generic checklist.

Client and contractual HSE requirements

Major operators impose HSE requirements that go well beyond legislation, and they are enforceable through the contract rather than through a regulator. Audits are conducted against your client's HSE specification, project HSE plan, or your own corporate standards where these are the benchmark you are held to.

Contractor and supply chain HSE

Where you carry responsibility for contractors working on your site or under your contract, audits are conducted at their premises and at their worksites on your behalf. This is the audit that answers whether a contractor's HSE arrangements exist on paper only or are actually implemented by the crews doing the work. It is used for pre-qualification before award, at intervals through a long contract, and after an incident.

ISO 14001 and ISO 45001

Audits can be conducted against the requirements of ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 as a gap assessment or readiness review. One restriction applies, and we apply it strictly: ITMAD is an accredited certification body, and ISO/IEC 17021-1 prohibits a certification body from performing internal audits for an organisation it certifies. Where ITMAD holds your ISO 14001 or ISO 45001 certification, we will not audit you against those standards in any other capacity. Compliance audits against legislation, permits and contractual HSE requirements remain available to certification clients without restriction, because they are not audits of the certified management system.

How the audit is conducted

• Establishing the applicable requirements for your specific site, activity and permits, which is usually the part clients have least visibility of
• Review of permits, licences, consents and their conditions, including expiry and renewal status
• Examination of the controls in place for identified hazards and environmental aspects
• Physical inspection of the workplace, including areas not on the planned route
• Sampling of records: monitoring data, emissions and discharge results, waste transfer documentation, training and competence, statutory inspection certificates, incidents, and maintenance
• Interviews at the levels where requirements are actually met, not only with HSE personnel
• Verification that corrective actions from previous audits and regulatory inspections were completed and remain effective

What you receive

• A report stating each applicable requirement, the evidence examined, and whether it is met
• Findings classified by severity, separating legal non-compliance from best-practice improvement
• Gaps prioritised so that legal exposure and immediate safety risk are addressed first
• The specific legal or contractual reference for each finding, so it can be verified independently
• Photographic evidence where a physical condition is the finding
• Findings in your own audit or scorecard format, on request
• Follow-up verification of corrective action, where included in scope

When these audits are used

• Ahead of a scheduled regulatory inspection, to find gaps before the regulator does
• As a condition of contract award or client HSE pre-qualification
• Where an insurer requires independent verification of HSE controls
• Following a serious incident, enforcement notice or regulatory finding
• When taking on a new site, lease or acquisition and inheriting unknown liabilities
• At agreed intervals under a corporate HSE assurance programme
• Before applying for or renewing an environmental permit

Auditors and approach

Audits are planned and conducted following the principles of ISO 19011, which governs auditor competence, the evidence-based approach and impartiality. ITMAD is accredited to ISO/IEC 17020 as an inspection body and to ISO/IEC 17021 as a certification body, and is an ADNOC approved contractor. Auditors are qualified in HSE disciplines and experienced in the sector being audited, which matters because recognising that a control is inadequate requires knowing how the work is actually done.