International Auditing Course Launched in Brussels

This month, The Auditing Roundtable successfully conducted the initial “International Basic Environmental, Health and Safety Auditing Skills” course.  The course was offered in Brussels, Belgium from 4-5 October.  The course offering marked the Roundtable’s first foray into the international training arena, and opened the door for future courses in Europe and other regions.  It also continues the decade-long effort by the Roundtable to grow its presence in Europe.

Kathy Rieth, AR Managing Director, praised the course’s success, “Over the past few months, we have worked very hard to develop this course and to ensure that it matched the quality levels of our other courses.  We are very happy that it is proving to be another successful course.”

The 1.5-day course was designed as a preparatory course for those working on obtaining the Certified Professional EHS Auditor (CPEA) designation in any discipline.  CPEA is a globally-recognized professional certification for EHS auditors offered by the Board of EHS Auditor Certifications (BEAC).  The course provides auditors with the EHS auditing skills consistent with the updated BEAC EHS auditing performance practices and standards.  The course preceded The Auditing Roundtable’s European Workshop.

Roberto Jimenez, former Roundtable Director and currently working at Royal Dutch Shell in The Netherlands, instructed the course.  Roberto livened up the course using real-life examples from his experience auditing in over thirty countries.  The ten course participants came from industry and consultancy, including companies like Monsanto, Shell, and Enhesa.  “It was fantastic having participants from six different nationalities and an array of professional backgrounds.  The exercises were really rich discussions as everyone shared their perspectives,” said Roberto.

The course received praise from the participants.  It received high marks in organization of material, usefulness of ideas and skills presented and meeting attendee training objectives.  One participant commented, “Very enthusiastic trainer who kept the attention of the audience throughout the course.”

The course will likely be offered in 2012, again in association with the European workshop in the Fall.  However, if enough interest is expressed for the course, it could also be offered earlier in the year.  If you are interested in being informed about this or other EHS auditing courses, please contact Kathy at Kathy@auditing-roundtable.org