This unit of competency covers the recognition of external sustainability related factors which are relevant to the organisation and then developing an appropriate response. It may be applied to an entire organisation, part of a large organisation, or part or all of a value chain.

A manager or senior technologist who has a significant sustainability responsibility work role would typically undertake the scanning of factors which influence an organisation and its environment, identifying those which relate to sustainability and require a response or where a response would benefit the organisation and then developing or organising an appropriate response. 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.

Skills covered by this unit may be applied individually or in a team context.

This unit will lead to the identification of sustainability responses by the organisation in response to external factors.

No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.

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, across an organisation or section/department, to:

recognise relevant external sustainability factors

develop appropriate responses to these external factors

determine which responses proceeds

communicate required responses.

Must provide evidence that demonstrates sufficient knowledge to interact with relevant personnel and be able to identify and respond to external sustainability factors including knowledge of:

process and changes which occur at each step in selected value chain

principles of sustainability

current actual and possible sources of external sustainability factors relevant to the organisation

possible responses for improving sustainability

root cause analysis

hierarchy of hazard control and its application to sustainability hazards

relevant legislation, regulation and protocols, government incentives and other initiatives

risk analysis and its application to sustainability risks.

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.

A third party report, or similar, may be needed to testify to the work done by the individual, particularly when the project has been done as part of a project team.

Assessment should use a real project where factors that influence an organisation and its environment that relate to sustainability are scanned, identified and responded to, for the benefit of the organisation, in an operational workplace.

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.

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.

Not applicable

Sustainable operations