Codes of practice | Where reference is made to industry codes of practice, and/or Australian/international standards, it is expected the latest version will be used |
Environment | The environment comprises the surroundings in which an enterprise and/or industry operates, and may include: air, water and land natural and built resources flora and fauna humans and how they interrelate |
Legislation, standards, codes, procedures and/or enterprise requirements | Legislation, standards, codes, procedures and/or enterprise requirements may include: federal legislation, such as: Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 Australian Heritage Council Act 2003 Native Title Act 1993 state/territory government legislation and regulations and local government by-laws, policies, and plans dealing with: land use, acquisition, planning and protection environmental protection cultural/heritage protection vegetation management nature conservation and wildlife/plant protection water and water management soil conservation pollution and contaminated sites fisheries, forestry and mining operations Australian and international standards, such as: AS/NZS ISO 14000 Set:2005 Environmental management standards set Australian Dangerous Goods Code ADG7 occupational health and safety (OHS) national standards and codes of practice enterprise environmental management plans and procedures for specific sites and/or activities (e.g. sampling, monitoring, manufacturing, construction and mining) |
Environmental management plans | Environmental management plans provide a framework for managing all environmental aspects, impacts, risks and obligations relevant to a site, project or significant work activity. Plans may include: an aim, vision and enterprise policy statement roles and responsibilities potential environmental issues actions to avoid, remedy and mitigate the issues procedures and forms to minimise and manage specific environmental impacts and risks quality management plans communication and training requirements monitoring, auditing and reporting requirements |
Environmental issues | Environmental issues will vary with the scope and location of the enterprise’s work activities, and may include: emissions to air releases to, and of, water releases to land soil erosion, sedimentation and salinity contamination of land disturbance of flora and fauna, threats to sensitive species and destruction of habitat introduction of pests, such as weeds and fire ants noise and vibration disturbance to heritage sites or items generation, reuse and disposal of waste use of energy sources handling, storage, spills, or exposure involving hazards, such as chemicals and radiation |
Environmental risks and impacts | Environmental risks and impacts comprise any potential (actual) adverse or beneficial change to the environment, whether direct or inferred, wholly or partially resulting from an enterprise’s activity, product or service. Risks and impacts may include: mismanagement of chemicals or fuel products mismanagement of biological agents land use practices planning deficiencies poor construction processes waste generation and disposal |
Sites | Sites may include: buildings and other infrastructure construction, mining, manufacturing, forestry, agricultural and maintenance sites bushland catchments, flood plains, surface/groundwater sites and drainage sites wetlands and marine/coastal areas |
Environmental reporting requirements | Environmental reporting requirements may include providing contributions to: regular site environmental reports non-conformance report forms hazard, near miss and safety incident report forms environmental incident investigation report forms regulatory agency reports |
Environmental management documentation | Environmental management documentation may include: site/project history, plans, procedures, actions and checklists information about applicable legislation and regulatory requirements records of correspondence and complaints incident reports and incident investigation reports quality assurance/verification checklists job hazard analyses, permits and safe work procedures internal check/audit reports training records records to comply with permit, licence and approval conditions |
OHS and environmental management requirements | OHS and environmental management requirements: all operations must comply with enterprise OHS and environmental management requirements, which may be imposed through state/territory or federal legislation - these requirements must not be compromised at any time all operations assume the potentially hazardous nature of samples and require standard precautions to be applied where relevant, users should access and apply current industry understanding of infection control issued by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and State and Territory Departments of Health |