Elements and Performance Criteria

Context
The 'Triple Bottom Line' (TBL) principle is used as a framework for measuring and reporting corporate performance against economic, social and environmental parameters. It involves the focus of an enterprise being not just on the economic value they add, but also on the environmental and social value they can add.

Sustainable development is defined as 'Development, which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.' From a business perspective, sustainable development involves the integration of this objective with the need for business growth and expansion. Effective and innovative environmental management can contribute to business growth by reducing costs, differentiating goods and services and contributing to improved corporate image and staff relations.

Environmental performance may be defined as the measure of an organisation's impact on the environment and their ability to manage and minimise negative impacts.

Legislation, codes and national standards relevant to the workplace which may include:
Relevant Commonwealth and State Environment Acts
Applicable State environmental regulations
Licences and permit conditions
Codes of practice
Australian standards
Environmental treaties & conventions
National environmental policies, strategies and initiatives such as the National Greenhouse Strategy, National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development, etc.
National Pollutant Inventory
State of the Environment Reports
Industry Association commitments (e.g. The Global Mining Initiative).

Environmental management policies must be:
relevant to the organisation's operations
appropriate to the scope and scale of the business.

Environmental management policies may include:
local, national and international innovations, programs and ideas
business sustainability
environmental load reduction
waste minimisation
tenders for the provision of goods and services that specify environmentally preferred selection criteria
protection of land and habitat
ecological considerations
regeneration of damaged ecosystems
media releases as a result of incidents
environmental reporting
communication strategies to ensure all stakeholders are informed of initiatives and to promote achievements to the wider community.

Knowledge of legislation, codes, national standards, industry codes of practice and workplace policies and procedures must:
be strictly relevant to the particular workplace and is not intended to include detailed technical aspects of environmental science
details of legislation must be directly relevant to the workplace
be consistent with the concept that people at this level will be dealing with environmental concepts as part of an overall management responsibility and not as an environmental specialist.

Environmental improvement plans may be established at management level and may include:
measuring, monitoring and recording environmental performance and continually setting targets for measurable improvements
all aspects of environmental performance including energy and other resources use, waste minimisation, recycling, transport use.

Environmental sustainability may be influenced by:
the organisational culture and operations
internal or external economic climate
political climate
market focus/considerations
environmental impacts of the business operation.

Stakeholders may include:
board members, financial backers, owners
all members of the organisation, including management and staff members
suppliers
contractors
others acting on the organisation's behalf
customers
external individuals or bodies who may have an interest in or may be affected by the organisation.

Maximising opportunities may involve:
improved environmental performance
increased efficiency
use of alternative energy sources
and may improve/enhance:
corporate image
staff morale
cost reduction
product differentiation/branding
identification of market potential.

To minimise environmental impact may include the minimisation of:
waste/pollution
emissions/spills
use of resources, especially reduction of use of non-renewable resources.

Continuous improvement and innovation policies may include:
consistent reviewing activities in search of a better way
improving the organisation in all aspects of its operation
and may look at life cycle impacts of the organisation including:
activities and products are designed to minimise life cycle impacts and maximise opportunities
tendering and purchasing processes that include life cycle criteria
product design and manufacture
packaging policies
product use and disposal
vehicle policies that include use of cleaner fuels or alternative energy sources and regular servicing intervals to reduce pollution and improve efficiency.

Performance benchmarks and targets may include:
best practice or industry codes for the industry/sector
levels of performance expected of organisation sectors and/or the organisation as a whole.

HSE
All operations to which this unit applies are subject to stringent health, safety and environment requirements, which may be imposed through State or Federal legislation, and these must not be compromised at any time. Where there is an apparent conflict between performance criteria and HSE requirements, the HSE requirements take precedence.

Assessment context and methods
Assessment for this unit of competency will be on an operating plant. The unit will be assessed in as holistic a manner as is practical and may be integrated with the assessment of other relevant units of competency. Assessment will occur over a range of situations, which will include disruptions to normal, smooth operation.

Simulation may be required to allow for timely assessment of parts of this unit of competency. Simulation should be based on the actual plant and will include walk throughs of the relevant competency components. Simulations may also include the use of case studies/scenarios and role plays.

This unit of competency requires a significant body of knowledge, which will be assessed through questioning and the use of what if scenarios both on the plant (during demonstration of normal operations and walk throughs of abnormal operations) and off the plant.

Critical aspects
Competence must be demonstrated in the ability to develop and establish environmental management policies, systems and procedures in regard to managing sustainable business practices while encompassing environmental sustainability as an integral part of business planning.

Evidence must be strictly relevant to the particular management role and is not intended to include detailed technical aspects of environmental science.

Consistent performance should be demonstrated. In particular look to see that:
communication/consultation skills to ensure all relevant groups and individuals are advised of what is occurring and are provided with an opportunity for input
conflict resolution skills to mediate, negotiate and/or attempt to obtain consensus between parties
planning and evaluation skills to develop policies and procedures
process analysis skills to identify potential environmental impacts and opportunities
problem solving skills to deal effectively with environmental impacts and opportunities as identified
ability to relate to people from a range of social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds and physical and mental abilities.

These aspects may be best assessed using a range of scenarios/case studies/what ifs as the stimulus with a walk through forming part of the response. These assessment activities should include a range of problems, including new, unusual and extreme situations that may have been generated from the past incident history of the plant, incidents on similar plants around the world, hazard analysis activities (e.g. HAZOP) and similar sources.

Resource implications
Assessment will require access to an operating plant over an extended period of time, or a suitable method of gathering evidence of operating ability over a range of situations. A bank of scenarios/case studies/what ifs will be required as will a bank of questions, which will be used to probe the reasoning behind the observable actions.

Other assessment advice
In all plants it may be appropriate to assess this unit concurrently with relevant teamwork units, communication units and units relevant to the process equipment.

In a major hazard facility, it may be appropriate to assess this unit concurrently with:
PMAOHS600 - Ensure a safe workplace.

Essential knowledge
The person must demonstrate understanding of specialised knowledge with depth in some areas. Required knowledge is to be limited to that which is sufficient to perform the particular management function and is intended to promote environmental awareness rather than technical environmental competencies.

Competence requires the ability to apply and explain:
relevant legislation from all levels of government that effects business operation, especially in regard to OHS and environmental issues, EEO, industrial relations and anti-discrimination
concepts of policy development and business planning
relevant system analysis and design principles
performance benchmarking and indicator development relevant to the organisation's activities
environment sustainability as a 'whole system' approach
techniques to measure sustainability
quality systems
supply chain management
strategies to maximise opportunities
environment impact minimisation strategies
relevant knowledge of environmental issues, especially in regard to water catchments, air, noise, ecosystems, habitat, waste minimisation
relevant knowledge of ecological systems in regard to business operation.