Auditors keep SRP in compliance with regulations. (Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District's environmental audits)(1997 Risk Management Honor Roll)

Managing environmental and workplace safety are two sides of the same coin at Salt River Project.

The utility's risk management department oversees SRP's Environmental, Health and Safety Audit Division, which is charged with ensuring the company complies with various government regulations while helping reduce potential exposures.

When William R. Powell assumed leadership of SRP's risk management department in 1991, the audit unit was part of SRP's Environmental Department. He put his stamp on it by folding it into the risk management department and expanding it to include health and safety audits.

Reporting to risk management gives the unit a greater degree of independence and objectivity than it had under environmental services, said Dave G. Sultana, the unit's supervisor. Under the Environmental Department, the unit essentially was auditing programs developed and managed within that division, he said.

The unit scrutinizes SRP …