Application
This unit describes a participant’s skills and knowledge required to establish and maintain the environmental management system in the Resources and Infrastructure Industries.
This unit is appropriate for those working in management roles.
No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.
Elements and Performance Criteria
1 Establish and maintain the framework for the environmental management system | 1.1 Access, interpret and apply environmental legislation, management documentation and ensure the work activity is compliant 1.2 Develop, document and have approved written policies and system procedures that clearly express the organisation’s commitment to environmental management and how relevant environmental legislation will be implemented, consistent with overall organisational policies 1.3 Define, allocate and include in job descriptions and duty statements, responsibilities and duties for implementation and integration of the system 1.4 Identify, source and/or provide the resources for the operation of the system in a timely and consistent manner 1.5 Provide and explain information on the system and procedures for the area of responsibility in a form readily accessible to employees |
2 Establish and maintain participative arrangements for the environmental management system | 2.1 Establish and ensure the maintenance of appropriate consultative processes, in consultation with employees and their representatives 2.2 Ensure issues raised through participation and consultation are dealt with and resolved promptly and effectively 2.3 Ensure information about the outcomes of participation and consultation is provided in a manner accessible to employees |
3 Establish and maintain procedures for identifying environmental hazards | 3.1 Existing and potential environmental hazards are identified and confirmed through site inspection and trends identified from the environmental record system 3.2 Develop and maintain written procedures for the ongoing identifying of existing and potential environmental hazards and ensure the implementation of these procedures 3.3 Monitor activities and ensure that environmental hazard identification procedure is adopted effectively throughout the organisation 3.4 Ensure procedures are in place and applied to environmental hazard identification at the planning, design and evaluation stages of any change in the workplace to ensure that new hazards are not created |
4 Establish and maintain procedures for assessing environmental risk | 4.1 Ensure appropriate assessment of risks presented by identified environmental hazards is carried out 4.2 Develop a system procedure for ongoing assessment of risks and ensure its integration within site procedures and systems of work 4.3 Monitor activities to ensure that risk assessment procedure is adopted effectively throughout the organisation 4.4 Ensure procedures are in place for risk assessment to be addressed at the planning, design and evaluation stages of any change, to ensure that risks are not created |
5 Establish and maintain procedures for treating environmental risks | 5.1 Develop and ensure implementation of measures to treat assessed risks 5.2 Ensure the implementation of interim solutions, until a permanent control measure is developed, when measures which treat a risk at its source are not immediately practicable 5.3 Develop system procedures for ongoing control of risks and ensure their integration within site procedures and general systems of work 5.4 Monitor activities to ensure that the risk treatment procedure is adopted effectively throughout the organisation 5.5 Ensure risk treatment is addressed at the planning, design and evaluation stages of any change within the organisation to ensure that adequate risk control measures are included 5.6 Identify inadequacies in existing risk treatment measures and seek and provide resources to enable implementation of new measures |
6 Establish and maintain organisational procedures for dealing with hazardous environmental events | 6.1 Identify the range of most likely potential hazardous environmental events 6.2 Develop systems procedures in consultation with appropriate emergency services that would treat the risks associated with the potential hazardous events 6.3 Provide appropriate information and training to all employees to enable implementation of the correct procedures in all relevant circumstances |
7 Establish and maintain an environmental training program | 7.1 Develop and ensure implementation of an environmental training program 7.2 Identify and fulfil employees’ environmental training needs |
8 Establish and maintain a system for environmental records | 8.1 Establish and monitor the system for keeping environmental records 8.2 Identify patterns of environmental non-compliance |
9 Evaluate the organisation’s environmental system and related policies, procedures and programs | 9.1 Assess the effectiveness of the environmental management system and related policies, procedures and programs in accordance with the organisation’s goals, objectives and statutory requirements 9.2 Develop and ensure implementation of improvements to the system to ensure more effective achievement of environmental aims 9.3 Assess compliance against compliance documentation and code of practice to ensure that legal environmental standards are maintained |
Evidence of Performance
Evidence is required to be collected that demonstrates a candidate’s competency in this unit. Evidence must be relevant to the roles within this sector’s work operations and satisfy all of the requirements of the performance criteria of this unit and include evidence that the candidate:
locates and applies relevant legislation, documentation, policies and procedures
works effectively with others to undertake and complete effective establishment and maintenance of environmental management systems to meet all required outcomes including:
preparing for and organising work activities to meet all task requirements
communicating clearly and concisely with others to receive and clarify work instructions
using a range of communication techniques and aids to advise others of work activity and exclusion zones
demonstrates completion of establishing and maintaining the environmental management system that safely, effectively and efficiently meets all of the required outcomes on more than one (1) occasion including:
identifying relevant information and scope of the work required to meet the required outcomes
identifying viable options and the selects those that best meet the required outcomes
accessing and analysing archival and historical information on worksite environmental matters
developing and introducing practices that aim to improve environmental performance in the workplace
explaining and clarifying complex environmental information to superiors/subordinates
using consultative mechanisms to negotiate processes and procedures appropriate to workplace environmental performance
Evidence of Knowledge
The candidate must demonstrate knowledge of establishing and maintaining the environmental management system through:
performing and maintaining environmental auditing
implementing statutory/legal control
undertaking duty of care requirements
establishing training design and management
complying and maintaining emergency procedures
carrying out strategic planning
maintaining human resource management
enforcing statutory and site rules, policies, procedures and regulations
establishing and maintaining risk management processes and techniques
establishing action planning methods
carrying out continuous improvement processes
maintaining company policies
Assessment Conditions
An assessor of this unit must satisfy the requirements of the NVR/AQTF or their successors; and Industry regulations for certification and licensing; and,
this unit is best assessed in the context of this sector’s work environment;
where personal safety or environmental damage are limiting factors, assessment may occur in a simulated environment provided it is realistic and sufficiently rigorous to cover all aspects of this sector’s workplace performance, including environment, task skills, task management skills, contingency management skills and job role environment skills; and,
this unit must be assessed in compliance with relevant legislation/regulation and using policies, procedures, processes and operational manuals directly related to the industry sector for which it is being assessed; and,
assessment may be conducted in conjunction with the assessment of other Units of Competency; and,
assessment must confirm consistent performance can be applied in a range of relevant workplace circumstances; and,
assessors must demonstrate the performance evidence, and knowledge evidence as outlined in this Unit of Competency, and through the minimum years of current* work experience specified below in an Industry sector relevant to the outcomes of the unit; or,
where the assessor does not meet experience requirements a co-assessment or partnership arrangement must exist between the qualified assessor and an Industry subject matter expert. The Industry subject matter expert should hold the unit being assessed (or an equivalent unit) and/or demonstrate equivalence of skills and knowledge at the unit level. An Industry technical expert must also demonstrate skills and knowledge from the minimum years of current work experience specified below in the Industry sector, including time spent in roles related to the unit being assessed; and,
assessor and Industry subject matter expert requirements differ depending on the Australian Qualifications Framework Level (AQF) of the qualification being assessed and/or Industry Sector as follows:
Industry sector | AQF** Level | Required assessor or Industry subject matter expert experience |
Drilling, Metalliferous Mining, Coal Mining, Extractive (Quarrying) and Civil Construction | 1 | 1 Year |
2 | 2 Years | |
Drilling, Coal Mining and Extractive (Quarrying) | 3-6 | 3 Years |
Metalliferous Mining and Civil Construction | 3-6 | 5 Years |
Other sectors | Where this Unit is being assessed outside of the Resources and Infrastructure Sectors assessor and/or Industry subject matter expert experience should be in-line with industry standards for the sector in which it is being assessed and where no Industry standard is specified should comply with any relevant regulation. | |
*Assessors can demonstrate current work experience through employment within Industry in a role relevant to the outcomes of the Unit; or, for external assessors this can be demonstrated through exposure to Industry by conducting frequent site assessments across various locations.
**Where a unit is being delivered outside of a Qualification the first numeric character in the Unit code should be considered to indicate the AQF level
Foundation Skills
Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit. Further information is available in the Resources and Infrastructure Industry Training Package Companion Volume.