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The Rising Demand for EHS Audits in the Asia Pacific Region

Hosted by: Phil Dillard

In this episode, we discuss EHS audits in the APAC region, diving into regional comparisons and how the industry has been evolving. We hear from experts David Cham, Country Manager, ESC Singapore, Sandra O’Brien-Kelly, Principal Environmental Scientist and Technical Director of Environmental Auditing and Sustainability, Tonkin + Taylor New Zealand and Tom Tang, Senior Project Manager, Anew Global Consulting in China. The group covers key drivers of change and their advice to multinational companies looking to do their audits more efficiently.
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david cham

David Cham

ESC - Singapore

David Cham has over 18 years of experience in environmental, health, and safety (EHS) consulting, with a focus on EHS assessments across various domains such as soil, groundwater, air quality, wastewater, industrial hygiene, noise, and vibration. His expertise extends to EHS compliance, due diligence assessments, and sustainability reporting. Throughout his career, David has held senior leadership roles, managing complex projects across the Asia-Pacific region, including environmental impact assessments, risk assessments, and remediation efforts. He has worked in multiple countries, overseeing both technical and commercial aspects of projects in diverse industries.

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Sandra O’Brian-Kelly, Principal Environmental Scientist, Tonkin + Taylor, New Zealand

Sandra O'Brien-Kelly

Tonkin + Taylor - New Zealand

Sandra is a Principal Environmental Scientist and Technical Director Environmental Auditing and Sustainability. She has over 20 years' experience gained in consultancy and the industrial sector in New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and the UK.  She has very strong and practical auditing experience, with particular strength in identifying gaps across suites of projects, and identifying opportunities for more effective environmental risk management. Sandra is a qualified Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001) Lead Auditor, a Registered Verifier for Eco Choice Aotearoa and Good Environmental Choice Australia, and a certified trainer for the SDG Impact Seal.

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tom tang

Tom Tang

Anew Global Consulting - China

Mr. Tom Tang, Anew Global Consulting in China, is both a Level 1 Registered Fire Engineer and a National certified safety engineer. Meanwhile, Tom is an experienced Senior Project Manager principal from Anew with core areas of competence in environmental health and safety (EHS) compliance audit, facility EHS management, Industrial Hygiene monitoring, Environment Due Diligence Assessment (EDDA) & Environment Site Assessment (ESA). In the past 16 years, Mr. Tom Tang has acquired plenty of experience in EHS compliance audit (more than 120 audits), due diligence environmental site assessment (ESA), Phase I, II and III Environmental Site Assessment, etc.

Guest Quotes

“Build a local compliance team. It's very important to have a strong team local.” - Tom

“We're seeing EHS broaden to more social considerations and social factors, which is wonderful to see because we're getting much better results out of that.” - Sandra 

“The importance of a local understanding is apparent, especially in Asia, Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia where language is an issue. Some of the regulations are written only in the local language and for multinationals to really understand what it means to comply, translating it to English may not capture the exact interpretation.” - David 

 

Time Stamps

00:14 EHS Audits in Singapore

02:23 EHS Audits in New Zealand

04:08 EHS Audits in China

06:17 The growing importance of remote audits 

07:42 The value of local understanding in EHS audits 

14:48 Drivers of change 

19:28 Tips for multinational companies

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