Pre-OMA Audit
Is Your Company Fully Compliant With The Environmental or PPC Permit?
If you have an environmental permit or PPC permit you may be subject to an Environment Agency initiative for the monitoring of emissions to air and water - the Operator Monitoring Assessment (OMA).
The EA use OMA to assess operators' self monitoring (including monitoring undertaken on behalf of operators by contractors) and provide a driver for necessary improvements. An OMA will be completed by the Environment Agency in the first year of a company being granted a permit and every four years if they already have a permit.
Is Your Company Prepared?
Failure to plan in advance of an OMA often results in companies performing poorly including improvement notices. The worst case scenario is that a company is fined for having a poor OMA score (fines can be up £5000 in a magistrates court and unlimited in a crown court). The Environment Agency recommend a pre-OMA audit to identify monitoring issues needing improvement in advance of the OMA assessment.
"A pre-OMA audit in advance of the actual OMA could reveal any gaps in the required information so that issues could be dealt with in advance" Paul Wiggins (Environment Agency)
The Pre-OMA Service
EMS provide an independent pre-OMA audit consistent with Environment Agency criteria:
- OMA 1: Management, Training and Competence of Personnel
- OMA 2: Fitness for Purpose of Monitoring Methods
- OMA 3: Maintenance and Calibration of Monitoring Equipment
- OMA 4: Quality Assurance of Monitoring
What are the Benefits of a Pre-OMA Audit?
The benefits of the audit are:
- Assesses the quality and reliability of operators' self monitoring including services provided by external contractors
- Identifies monitoring shortfalls and potential areas for improvement
- Contributes to the targeting and prioritisation of independent monitoring of point source emissions
What does the pre-OMA Audit Involve?
The scope of the Pre-OMA audit includes:
- Site inspection of monitoring and treatment processes
- Review of documentation and records associated with the monitoring and treatment protocols
- Informal interviews with key personnel
- A report of the audit findings
- An action plan to maximise the OMA audit score
To discuss how a Pre-OMA audit will benefit your business, please contact Rebecca Chapman on 0114 272 2270 or rchapman@em-solutions.co.uk
To download further information about Pre-OMA audits please click this link