ARK's personnel can provide a variety of environmental compliance assessment services.  These assessments are integral to ARK's environmental management consulting.  Assessment services are typically provided as part of a broader scope of work which includes assisting clients in developing and improving overall environmental management programs at the corporate or business level.

ARK recommends approaches to environmental auditing including reviewing management systems and practices while auditing for regulatory compliance.  Experience indicates that most causes of regulatory non-compliance are rooted in a lack of environmental policies, training, and employee communications.  Conducting a review of the underlying systems generally leads to long-term solutions.

ARK's compliance audits result in prioritized recommendations for achieving compliance or improved efficiency. The prioritization process identifies environmental areas of concern and ranks them based on the EPA's definition of environmental compliance risks.  ARK auditors distinguish between significant, major, and minor problems and also classify them as either regulatory or procedural. Audit reports document the findings, classifying them in accordance with the level of concern, and recommend corrective actions. In this way an initial audit can serve as the starting point for developing management programs that reduce liability. Follow-up audits can be used to fine-tune and check progress on those programs.

Broader management issues with which ARK can assist include the following:

• Environmental strategic planning
  
• Risk management
  
• Policy development and implementation
  
• Environmental performance and financial disclosure
  
• Integration of environmental management into business planning