subject: Iso 50001 Energy Management System Audit And Managementreview [print this page] The term ISO 50001 Energy Management System Audit has been used for several different types of Energy investigations. Confusions has arisen between the terms have been used to describe the same or overlapping activities. The term Energy audit has also been used to describe three different activities.
* The compliance / performance audit used to determine the enterprises compliance with laws and standards,
* The audit of an Energy report,
* And the Energy management system audit used to review the implementation of an EnMS.
The development of international Energy management standards has now provided some clarification and basis for differentiating between terms.
The Initial Energy Review establishes the baseline data on the Energy status and effects of the enterprise. It usually is an activity carried out once prior to the development of an Energy management system. Whereas the Energy Management System Audit, on the other hand, is used to assess how well the ENMS is functioning.
Energy Audit:
A systematic, documented verification process of objectively obtaining and evaluating audit evidence events, condition, management systems, or information about these matters, conform to audit criteria, and communicating ate results of this process to the client.
EnMS Audit for ISO 50001 Certification:
A systematic, documented verification process of objectively obtaining and evaluating audit evidence to determine whether an organizations ENMS conformed to the ENMS audit criteria and communicating the results of this process to the client. EnMS audit criteria are defined as the policies practices procedures or requirements. Such as covered by ISO 50001 and, if applicable, any additional EnMS requirements, against which the auditor compares, collected audit evidence about the organizations EnMS.
In other words, within the overall ISO 50001 Energy management system, Energy audits are used to determine whether Energy management activities conform to the stated action plan, whether these activities are effectively implemented, and how effective the Energy management system is in fulfilling the Energy policy. The Energy audit should focus on the Energy objectives and action plans of the organisations to allow problem are as to be identified so that remedial action can be taken.
The audit checklist is a means of assisting managers at all levels to improve the performance of the operations under their control. It is not a check on how well people are doing their job!
Criteria and Issues of an EnMS:
In executing and EnMS audit, one should always keep in mind that the basic questions that should be answered are:
* Is the EnMS complete?
Does it contain all the necessary elements? Answering this question is clearer if the organisation use an ISO 50001 EnMS standard as a reference. Then the elements, which should be there, are described very clearly. Checks may need to cover:
Questions relating to Energy policy could then e.g. be:
* Has the Energy policy been established in writing?
* Has it been communicated to all employees?
* Is it appropriate to the nature, scale and Energy issues of the activities, products and services
* Does it include a commitment to continual improvement of the Energy performance and to prevention of energy loss?
* Is it the right EnMS for the activities involved?
This involves checking whether the ENMS elements have been properly tailored to the nature and the complexity of the organisations activities, and to the Energy aspects and impacts that are linked to them.
For this criterion it will be necessary to check issues such as:
* Energy Efficiency
* Energy Use
* Energy consumption
* Conversion efficiency
* Energy required
* Theoretical energy used to operate/energy used
* Energy related to transport
* Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions
* Purchase of products, equipment and services considering ENMS
* Reduce peak demand
* Utilize surplus or waste energy or improve the operations of its systems, processes or equipment.
* Accidents & emergencies
* Planning Issues and Interface with other energy Issues
* Promote Energy Management and Performance in organizations
* Promote Energy Savings
* Decrease GHG emissions
* Technical Energy provisions
* Process performance and management
* Energy risks
* Maintenance aspects
Is it implemented well?
The auditor should check whether the system has really been implemented at all levels and activities in the organisation.
Also this check will have to done by sampling.
Checks may include:
* Availability and implementations of procedures
* Training records
* Availability of records and measurements reports
* Whether the Energy policy has been communicated to all employees
* Is it suitable for fulfilling the Energy policy and objectives of the organisation? Is there EnPIs monitored and action plans established
One can have a complete system, it can be tailored well to the nature and the complexity at hand, it can be implemented well, and still it may not be sufficient to fulfill the organisations Energy policy and objectives. Therefore the iso 50001 audit should also take into account checking the real Energy performance achieved with the system against the policy and objectives.
Checks may include:
* Checking measurements of energy reduction, energy use, efficiency, energy system effectiveness against objectives.
* Checking specific provisions in licenses and regulations for compliance
