MSS027013
Coordinate environmental management activities


Application

This unit describes the skills and knowledge to coordinate environmental management activities at a site, or within a project, to ensure compliance with relevant legislation, regulations, permits and/or licences. Personnel are required to interpret and explain environmental management policies, plans and procedures to other personnel and apply them to a wide range of activities. This includes recognising potential and actual environmental impacts of current and planned work or recreational activities, implementing and monitoring appropriate preventative and corrective actions to minimise harm to the environment, coordinating response to incidents, liaising with the site personnel and stakeholders, and providing site or project reports.

This unit applies to environmental site coordinators, environmental managers and environmental officers working in all industry sectors.

No licensing or certification requirements exist at the time of publication. Relevant legislation, industry standards and codes of practice within Australia must be applied.

Environmental monitoring and management activities are governed by relevant legislation, regulations and/or external accreditation requirements. Local requirements should be checked.


Elements and Performance Criteria

Elements describe the essential outcomes.

Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element.

1

Confirm environmental management responsibilities

1.1

Read and interpret legislative, regulatory and licensing requirements and approvals that apply to site or project

1.2

Clarify scope of own role and the roles of other key personnel

1.3

Identify resources available for site or project

2

Develop and maintain positive relations with site personnel and stakeholders

2.1

Identify significant stakeholders and their concerns, issues, positions or attitudes about the site or project

2.2

Participate in meetings and networks

2.3

Use strategies to foster the trust and confidence of site personnel and stakeholder representatives

2.4

Communicate workplace positions and requirements in a way that acknowledges concerns of personnel and stakeholders and promotes understanding

2.5

Respond to requests for information or participation in stakeholder activities in accordance with workplace procedures

2.6

Provide timely, authorised information using language, styles and formats that are readily understood

2.7

Identify difficult situations and negotiate solutions by using a collaborative approach and harnessing cooperation

2.8

Obtain regular feedback and use it to maintain and enhance positive relations

3

Provide environmental management information and training

3.1

Use environmental management plans and recent incident reports to identify and review information and training needs of site personnel

3.2

Access and develop information and training programs to meet the identified needs

3.3

Provide accessible information and training programs to ensure that all site personnel understand their environmental obligations and responsibilities

3.4

Confirm site personnel’s understanding of environmental management actions

3.5

Monitor the effectiveness of information and training and adjust content, format and delivery strategies

4

Assess environmental impacts and risks

4.1

Review scheduled activities well in advance to identify implications for environmental management

4.2

Identify potential and actual events, risks and activities that may harm the environment

4.3

Conduct inspections and in-situ measurements to quantify risks and impacts

4.4

Report assessment of risks and impacts in accordance with workplace and legislative requirements

5

Implement environmental monitoring and management plans

5.1

Conduct specified environmental monitoring and site inspections to check performance against environmental management requirements

5.2

Ensure that workplace environmental monitoring instruments are fully functioning and maintained

5.3

Conduct additional monitoring and inspections after atypical events, legitimate complaints or government requests to assess whether environmental management plan is operating effectively

5.4

Examine results of in-situ measurements, laboratory analyses, inspections and audits to identify significant trends, non-conformance and incidents

6

Respond to environmental non-conformances and incidents

6.1

Implement workplace procedures for responding to environmental non-conformance and incidents to ensure prompt control and remediation

6.2

Investigate the causes of non-conformances and incidents within scope of responsibility and in accordance with workplace and legislative requirements

6.3

Analyse findings to identify opportunities to re-design activities, work practices, environmental controls, information and training programs and management procedures

6.4

Implement authorised corrective and preventative actions to prevent recurrence of non-conformance or incident and to reduce risks

6.5

Record all recommendations, actions and outcomes in accordance with the workplace and legislative requirements

7

Keep management informed about environmental performance

7.1

Provide regular reports about environmental performance, instances of potential or actual non-conformance and incidents and the actions taken in each case

7.2

Report opportunities and recommendations for improvements

7.3

Seek manager’s advice when challenges are beyond own scope of role or when input from environmental specialists may be required

8

Maintain environmental records

8.1

Ensure all required records are legible, accurate and satisfy workplace and legislative requirements

8.2

Store environmental records to enable easy access and review by authorised personnel according to workplace procedures

8.3

Regularly read and assess environmental records to identify significant trends and impacts

8.4

Identify any problems with the maintenance and security of records and resolve them promptly

Foundation Skills

This section describes those language, literacy, numeracy and employment skills that are essential to performance.

Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.


Sectors

Environmental


Competency Field

Management