BSBSUS501 Develop workplace policy and

procedures for sustainability

BSBSUS501A Develop workplace policy and
procedures for sustainability

Develop workplace
sustainability policy

Communicate workplace
sustainability policy

Implement workplace
sustainability policy

Review workplace sustainability

policy implementation
 DEVELOP WORKPLACE SUSTAINABILITY
POLICY
• Define scope of sustainability policy
• When a workplace is following 'best practice' policies, they
often need to be developed to include monitoring,
evaluation and entrench continuous improvement
In general, when
writing a policy,
you should keep
in mind the size
and specific
needs of the
organisation
• A generic environmental policy
• A general environmental policy requires the
company to:
• Comply with environmental law. It is essential that
legal compliance be undertaken
• Commit to continuous improvement. Every audit
should show improvement in the systems
• Develop an environmental management system.
Initially this does not have to be as comprehensive as
required for ISO 14001
• Resource the environmental management system
adequately; this means that dedicated staff
resourcing and training will have to be covered in a
budget somewhere
• How does a company benefit from an
environmental policy?
• There are several reasons why a company benefits
from the adoption of a formal, written sustainability
policy:
• It allows you to determine the performance of its
strategy against an agreed set of objectives
• It establishes a sense of direction
• It highlights the responsibilities and accountabilities
for implementing sustainable practice throughout
the company
• It provides a marketing tool to show your
company's commitment to sustainable
development
• Writing the scope
• The purpose of the Policy Scope Statement is to
guide the development of a policy, provide a
summary of a proposed policy, and ensure that
those who might be affected by a policy are
identified, considered, and consulted
• Gather information from a range of sources to plan
and develop policy
• Perhaps the first place to start in a management
review to develop and implement sustainable policies
is to review the vision and mission statements of the
business
• Purchasing policies have significant influences on
sustainability, determining what raw materials and
resources are utilised in a business
• Other significant policies will include:
• Waste management
• Integrated marketing communication policies that
capture and communicate a business's sustainability
objectives
• Human resource management policies that link
appraisals, remuneration and rewards to sustainability
objectives
• Identify best practice models and initiatives
• The best sustainability models for the business
sector are industry specific systems that are
promoted and supported by industry associations
• Most state and territory governments provide the
same type of support for businesses and industries in
their state or territory, but some use different names
to support the same initiatives
• Identify and consult stakeholders as a key
component of the policy development process
• Stakeholder engagement and/or participatory
practice is increasingly becoming a part of
mainstream business practice and central to public
policy decision-making and delivery
• It is being used as a means to improve
communications, obtain wider community support or
buy-in for projects, gather useful data and ideas,
enhance public sector or corporate reputation, and
provide for more sustainable decision-making
• Levels of participation
• Before any expensive and lengthy engagement process is
begun, it is important to have a good understanding, and
indeed consider what level of participation is actually being
sought
• Public participation can be broadly categorised into the following

LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION GOALS

 
Inform To provide the public with balanced and
  objective information to assist them in
understanding the problem, alternatives,
opportunities and/or solutions.
Consult To obtain public feedback for decision-
  makers on analysis, alternatives and/or
decisions.
Involve To work directly with the public
  throughout the process to ensure that
public concerns and aspirations are
consistently understood and considered
in decision making processes.
Collaborate To partner with the public in each aspect
  of the decision including the
development of alternatives and the
identification of the preferred solution.
• Include appropriate strategies in policy at all stages
of work for minimising resource use, reducing toxic
material and hazardous chemical use, and
employing life cycle management approaches
• Waste assessment
• One way of assessing your current environmental
performance is to conduct a waste assessment
• A waste assessment will help you to better understand
where your efforts will gain most value
• What is the purpose of a waste assessment?
• The main aims of a waste assessment are to:
• Identify each waste stream on or leaving the site
• Quantify and characterise each waste stream to
establish benchmark data
• Establish how and why each waste stream is
generated
• What's involved?
• The following are the key tasks involved in a waste
assessment:
• Select waste assessment team
• Determine audit scope
• Collect available data
• Identify and characterise waste streams
• Evaluate data
• Identify and prioritise options
• Prepare a report and plan of action
• What happens?
• There are three main stages involved in a waste
assessment. These are:
• Preliminary assessment – aims to identify major
environmental issues, major opportunities for
improvement and major economic issues.
• Detailed study and improvement plan – aims to find
the best options for minimisation in the site.
• Monitoring and review – aims to monitor and confirm
the indicators and targets previously established.
• Improve purchasing
• By improving your purchasing, your resource use
and waste output will be reduced
• Buying recycled materials can reduce the amount of
waste sent to landfill
• Improve purchasing to:
• Reduce waste production
• Reward waste minimisation
• Improving storage
• Improvements can be made to...
• Storage
» Only store what you need. Good inventory
management can save money.
» Keep all storage areas uncluttered, clean and clearly
labelled.
» Ensure that materials in storage cannot collect,
contaminate or mix with rainwater.
» Ensure storage tanks, including those underground, are
not leaking
• Housekeeping
• Minimise waste
• Spill response
 • Conserving energy
• Reducing energy consumption can save money and reduce
greenhouse gases caused by burning fossil fuels
• Improvements can be made...
• In the workplace
• In the process
• When choosing energy sources
• Conserving water
• Don't spend money like water, spend water like money.
• The way you use it or waste it, water is in your hands.
• To save water...
• Reduce
» Determine the minimum volume of water you need
» Fix dripping taps and leaking pipes
» Install water saving accessories
• Reuse
» Determine the cheapest way to treat wastewater
» Investigate the possibility of rainwater
» Account for all losses involved in the disposal of water
• Reducing waste
• Segregated waste can often be recycled and may be a
valuable product for another business
• Remember the 3 Rs...
• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle
• Less waste = less pollution = less effort = less cost
• Reducing risk
• Prevent pollution and minimise risk by...
• Improving management
» Keeping up-to-date and accurate records.
» Regular maintenance programs
• Assessing chemical use
» Substituting toxic materials with non-toxic materials
where possible.
» Insist on a material safety data sheet (MSDS) from
suppliers
• Training
• Using correct storage techniques
• Correct handling and disposal techniques
• Improving information
• Improvements can be made to...
• Measurement
» Measure and track your usage rates for energy, water
and ingredients
» Assess your environmental performance regularly
• Recording
» Keep maintenance/material safety data sheet manuals
in an easily accessible place (and keep them up-to-date)
• Reporting
» Devise reports in terms of products that you sell
» Be consistent when taking and recording measurements
• Develop policy that reflects the organisation's
commitment to sustainability as an integral part of
business planning and as a business opportunity
• Once you have consulted stakeholders, developed
a plan, and gained acceptance you can begin to
develop the policy that will guide any further
actions in the business
• If recycling is your main focus you can write up the
policy and procedures for your team
• The steps below may help you:
• Step 1: identify target materials
• Step 2: designing the program
• Agree to appropriate methods of implementation
• In managing for sustainability, many businesses
begin the journey in earnest when sustainability is
documented in policy
• A sustainability coordinator is appointed to work
within the company to coordinate sustainability
initiatives and report to senior management
• The sustainability coordinator may hold other
responsibilities
• Standard phases and milestones
• Phase 1 is a desktop review. An auditor might go to
the site and go through the sites' documentation
and undertake a quick evaluation to see if there are
major non-conformances
• Phase 2 is a desktop review and a site inspection to
ensure what is documented is being conducted on
site. By phase 2 a business is expected to have a
higher level of documentation and undertake the KPIs
to a higher level than for phase 1
• Phase 3 auditing is similar in scope to a partial ISO
14001 audit and initially comprises of an overview of
the documentation to ensure all KPIs are addressed
and a detailed assessment of a random 25% of the
KPIs with a focus initially on control measures, their
implementation, training and documentation
• Barriers to changing policy
• The main barriers of the introduction of changes to
policy are the implications on capital expenditure
• Many of the changes required have cost implications
including, but not limited to:
• Changes to electronic and/or hard copy
documentation
• Additional document control procedures to ensure
compliance
• Additional staff or reallocation of existing staff to
new duties
COMMUNICATE WORKPLACE SUSTAINABILITY
POLICY
• Promote workplace sustainability policy, including
its expected outcome to key stakeholders
• In order for plans to become effective, information
must be properly communicated to employees and
clear in their explanation
• It is beneficial to bring stakeholders on board and
genuinely listen to their ideas
• In order for a policy to work, you need to create a
widespread awareness within the organisation,
including employees, customers and other key
stakeholders
 IMPLEMENT WORKPLACE
SUSTAINABILITY POLICY
• Develop and communicate procedures to help
implement workplace sustainability policy
• Once a sustainability policy has been formulated, you
need to determine the best approach to implementation
• You also need to consider the issues and constraints that
affect your business, for example: 
• How much change can your business accept?
• What resources do you have available?
• Do you have the skills/experience or do you need to bring
in expertise/attend training?
• Are there any time constraints within which you must
work?
• Are there any environmental constraints within which you
must work?
• Implement strategies for continuous improvement
in resource efficiency
• To some extent, sustainability programs are in a
constant state of implementation
• Practices need to be constantly monitored and
reviewed to ensure that the program is meeting your
objectives
• Without good record keeping and monitoring, it is
difficult for a business to accurately determine if
system requirements are being met
• Establish and assign responsibility to use recording
systems for tracking continuous improvements in
sustainability approaches
• You will not know the results of your sustainability
policy and procedures without being able to track
the actual results of those changes
• It is critically important that your methods of
recording are accurate and consistent
• If possible, arrange for the data on your
measurements to be computerised
• What you are looking for in this data is continuous
improvement, not a quick jump in statistics
 REVIEW WORKPLACE SUSTAINABILITY POLICY
IMPLEMENTATION

• Document outcomes and provide feedback to key

personnel and stakeholders
• The final stage when developing a sustainability is
to monitor its effectiveness
• There is as important interaction between policies and
procedures
• Any new undertaking or change within a business
usually involves an element of risk
• Gradual, continual improvement, is more desirable
than a sudden jump
• Investigate successes or otherwise of policy
• Once you’ve documented your progress, it’s time to
start analysing that progress
• Every success and failure needs to be investigated and
analysed to determine why it was or wasn’t a success
• Look for the following:
• A particular person who has been the impetus
behind the success
• People who are ignoring the new policies and
procedures
• Equipment that is part of new processes, which either
doesn’t work properly or is broken
• Systems that are not running smoothly
• Systems and procedures that are creating extra work
for people
 • Monitor records to identify trends that may require
remedial action and use to promote continuous
improvement of performance
• It is critical to continually monitor and revise the
processes involved and compare results to expected
outcomes
• Reporting based on data collected should adhere to the
construct of TRACE reporting
• TRACE reporting incorporates the principles of:
• Transparency: organized documentation that facilitates
interpretation of data
• Relevance: reporting serves the needs of the organisation
and aids decision making
• Accuracy
• Consistency: consistent measures and procedures must be
implemented in order to make comparisons over time

T.R.A.C.E • Entirety: boundaries must be clearly defined and all relevant

sources must be included.
• Modify policy and or procedures as required to
ensure improvements are made
• Demanding that workers abide by the new policy in
cases like this is no guarantee that they will obey
the new policy
• Sustainability policies and procedures are processes
which are continually changing and evolving
• Because the practice of sustainability is relatively
recent, new techniques, technologies and theories are
constantly being presented
• When employing new strategies and techniques to
improve sustainability, it is important to update
documentation accordingly
Any Questions?