Application
This unit of competency covers the response to, and management of, a major sustainability non-conformance which may have arisen through the action, or non-action, of the organisation or its value chain members, or due to a change in the external environment. A major non-conformance is one which could have severe business impacts. It may be applied to an entire organisation, part of a large organisation, or part or all of a value chain.
This unit covers the recognition of a major non-conformance and then the devising and implementation of a strategy and tactics to contain the situation, not allowing it to accelerate or cascade and minimise the adverse consequences while doing what can be done to remedy the situation. The organisation’s environment, for the purpose of this unit, is considered to include the ecology it impacts, the economic impacts on the organisation and the social impacts of the organisation.
Typical situations might include a:
process or equipment failure somewhere along the value chain which has the potential to cause adverse sustainability impacts
change in legislation or regulation which will see the organisation in breach
change in requirements from a customer
change in supply quality from a supplier
social attitude change which affects in either a positive or negative manner business prospects or the business operating environment.
A manager or senior technologist who has a significant sustainability responsibility work role would typically undertake it. Skills covered by this unit may be applied individually or in a team context.
No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.
Elements and Performance Criteria
Elements describe the essential outcomes. | Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element. | ||
1 | Determine extent and nature of non-conformance | 1.1 | Determine commencement, type and expected duration of non-conformance. |
1.2 | Liaise with internal stakeholders to determine impact. | ||
1.3 | Liaise with value chain members to determine impact. | ||
1.4 | Determine impact on current operations and order fulfilment. | ||
1.5 | Determine impact of non-conformance on local community and other stakeholders. | ||
1.6 | Determine regulatory implications of non-conformance. | ||
1.7 | Summarise impact on organisation and value chain member’s viability. | ||
2 | Determine priorities and actions | 2.1 | Develop possible responses appropriate to the situation. |
2.2 | Determine possible timing of possible responses. | ||
2.3 | Identify required resources for the responses developed. | ||
2.4 | Evaluate possible responses and select/short-list responses. | ||
2.5 | Select response and organise resources, as appropriate. | ||
3 | Identify information needs | 3.1 | Determine regulatory compliance needs. |
3.2 | Determine the information needs of other stakeholders. | ||
3.3 | Identify the sources of required information. | ||
3.4 | Arrange to collect required information. | ||
3.5 | Report information to stakeholders, as appropriate. | ||
3.6 | Arrange for updating of information disseminated on a timely basis, as appropriate. | ||
4 | Implement immediate response | 4.1 | Initiate responses and establish data and other information collection procedures. |
4.2 | Analyse data and other information as it comes to hand. | ||
4.3 | Determine progress of responses to achieving required outcomes. | ||
4.4 | Modify responses as required to better achieve desired outcomes. | ||
5 | Plan for conformance | 5.1 | Determine root cause of non-conformance. |
5.2 | Determine impacts on sustainability strategy and tactics. | ||
5.3 | Develop plan to ensure continued conformance. | ||
5.4 | Initiate implementation of plan. | ||
5.5 | Monitor implementation of plan and take action. | ||
6 | Conclude and review response | 6.1 | Conduct a debrief and complete reports, as required. |
6.2 | Evaluate and review response and procedures. | ||
6.3 | Evaluate and document effectiveness of the response function and its interaction/communication with stakeholders. | ||
6.4 | Recommend improvements to prevent a recurrence and improve response for other non-conformances. | ||
6.5 | Communicate reports, as appropriate. |
Evidence of Performance
Evidence required to demonstrate competence in this unit must be relevant to and satisfy the requirements of the elements and performance criteria and include the ability, for one (1) or more major non-conformance, to:
define the nature and extent of the non-conformance
develop an appropriate, prioritised set of responses
collect and disseminate relevant information to the stakeholders
implement response(s) to the non-conformance
develop and simulate the implementation of a recovery plan
debrief, capture learnings and make recommendations for improvements to responses.
Evidence of Knowledge
Must provide evidence that demonstrates sufficient knowledge to interact with relevant personnel and be able to respond to and manage a major sustainability non-conformance including knowledge of:
identification of non-conformances and their consequences
prioritisation of business impacts based on key indicators, such as effect on error rates and defects, loss of or delay in supply of materials or components, loss or severe restriction of process capability, loss of transport from or to operational centre or process facility, unplanned increases in costs of materials or services, increases in the cost of finance/capital, sudden change in regulatory requirements
prioritisation of responses based on business and customer needs, such as customer requirements, the philosophies and strategies of the organisation, health, safety and environment (HSE) requirements, delivery, statutory and contractual requirements
negotiation methods
dealing with stress.
Assessment Conditions
The unit should be assessed holistically and the judgement of competence shall be based on a holistic assessment of the evidence.
The collection of performance evidence is best done from a report and/or folio of evidence drawn from:
a single project which provides sufficient evidence of the requirements of all the elements and performance criteria
multiple smaller projects which together provide sufficient evidence of the requirements of all the elements and performance criteria.
Assessment should use a simulated major non-conformance based on real/realistic incidents which have occurred in that or other industries. Assessment should be run using a ‘war gaming’ model where the simulated non-conformance has a defined start and additional information becomes available as the exercise progresses. This may be a ‘desk top’ exercise and is best run with the team of individuals who would need to respond and may occur in an ‘incident room’ or could be run using digital communication and information. The incident should be progressively elaborated as the exercise progresses, and may, or may not be completed within one day.
Knowledge evidence may be collected concurrently with performance evidence or through an independent process such as workbooks, written assessments or interviews (provided a record is kept).
Assessment processes and techniques must be appropriate to the language, literacy and numeracy requirements of the work being performed and the needs of the candidate.
Conditions for assessment must include access to all tools, equipment, materials and documentation required including relevant workplace procedures, product and manufacturing specifications associated with this unit.
Foundation skills are integral to competent performance of the unit and should not be assessed separately.
Assessors must satisfy the assessor competency requirements that are in place at the time of the assessment as set by the VET regulator.
The assessor must demonstrate both technical competency and currency.
Technical competence can be demonstrated through:
relevant VET or other qualification/Statement of Attainment AND/OR
relevant workplace experience
Currency can be demonstrated through:
performing the competency being assessed as part of current employment OR
having consulted with an organisation providing relevant environmental monitoring, management or technology services about performing the competency being assessed within the last twelve months.
Foundation Skills
This section describes those required skills (language, literacy and numeracy) that are essential to performance.
Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.
Range Statement
This field allows for different work environments and conditions that may affect performance. Essential operating conditions that may be present (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) are included. | |
Sustainability incorporates all of | survival of the ecology/physical environment (to manage the impact of the business to ensure the survival of the physical environment) economic viability (efficiency, cost and waste reduction and competitiveness to support survival of the business) social sustainability (to manage the impact of the business to ensure its continued survival within the community and the survival of the community). |
Impact of non-conformance includes one or more of | negligible impact fines or other organisation legal penalties personal fines, jail terms or other personal penalties court litigation or similar remediation costs loss of market share loss of brand viability loss of licence to operate. |
Other stakeholders include one or more of | regulatory bodies, such as local councils and environmental protection agencies customers/clients suppliers service suppliers. |
Plan for conformance includes one or more of | the temporary situation has been corrected the process has been adapted to the permanent change in the environment. |
Sustainability issues of particular relevance include one or more of | particular sensitivities of the local ecology (e.g. endangered species, sensitive local flora/fauna, material scarcity, water availability) general ecology issues and regulations (e.g. climate change and carbon footprint, pollution control measures) particular local social issues (e.g. distortions to the housing market, disruption to local lifestyles) general social issues (e.g. corporate citizenship, use or/deterioration to infrastructure) particular local economic issues (e.g. cost of capital, profit margins, competition) general economic issues (e.g. state of the economy, stage of the business cycle, other issues, such as those identified by AS/NZS ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standards (or its authorised replacement or other relevant standard)). |
Significance of impact includes one or more of | permanent loss or degradation loss or degradation which inhibits use by the following generation temporary degradation requiring remediation temporary degradation which is self-remediating speed of change/degradation/loss. |
Appropriate response when impact cannot be prevented includes one or more of | capture and storage (e.g. scrubbing) and similar ‘end of pipe’ solutions dilution/dispersion and similar techniques which reduce concentration but not amount other approaches which meet the sustainability requirements. |
Sectors
Not applicable
Competency Field
Sustainable operations