Environmental Management
Systems (EMS)
Major Assignment
2014
Completion Record
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Available marks
93
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www.cffet.net/env
Major Assignment
EMS
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to provide a summative assessment for the unit
MSS024002A – Implement environmental management plans and procedures. As this unit
deals with the implementation of EMP’s, we start by analysing the conditions that give rise
to an EMP, and then explore the written EMP, and finally examine the practical
implementation from the environmental technician’s perspective.
Structure
The assignment is broken into three major parts as follows;

Part 1 – The reasons for the EMP

Part 2 – EMP analysis

Part 3 – Practical implementation
Resources required
To undertake this assignment, you will need access to the following documents and
information from the relevant Subject Study Materials pages;

The EMS course notes (Study modules 1 – 6)

The Environmental Management Strategy for Orica’s ANE Plant

Orica’s Environmental protection Licence (EPL)

The Environmental Fieldwork course notes would help as well

The ALS Environment Pocket Guide to sampling

The NSW Legislation website; http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/
Submission

Answer all questions in this document

Submit the completed assignment to your teacher using the following format;
Firstname-lastname-EMS-ASST-1-2014

The assignment is due no later than November 28th 2014
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Part 1 – The reasons for the EMP
Background
The approval process for a project is a complex and involved process, but at the end of it,
the consent authority (in this case, the Minister for Planning) will usually issue a project
approval notice which may or may not apply ‘conditions’ on the approval of the project.
If conditions apply, there will typically be different conditions that apply to the different
phases, such as the construction and operational phases. Part 1 deals with understanding
the consent conditions which apply to the development of Orica’s ANE plant.
Task
You have been supplied with a document titled ‘REF-Orica-Kurri-EMS’, read the Project
Approval section in Appendix A and answer the following questions.
1. Identify the reasons for the consent approval. 1mk.
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2. What are the operational limits on approval? 1mk.
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3. List the three conditions (bold headings) that apply to the fauna and flora aspects of the
project? 3mk.
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4. What is the projects main concern in relation to air pollution? 2mk.
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5. Identify the consent conditions in relation to noise management. 1mk.
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6. What key document is referenced in Noise under Note ‘a’ for conducting noise
measurements? 1mk.
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7. What other measurements (under Note ‘b’) are required for noise measurements. 2mk.
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8. Explain the key concerns of the Approval in relation to soil and water management. 3mk.
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9. How will the discovery of Aboriginal heritage matter be dealt with? 2mk.
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10. Schedule 4 of the Approval outlines the need for an Environmental Management
Strategy (i.e. EMP). What are the five key outcomes that the EMP must achieve? 5mk.
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11. What does the Approval state must occur if an ‘incident’ occurs? 2mk.
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12. Read through the Project Approval again from the beginning and note down the number
of audits (audits only, not reports or other documents) that need to be undertaken for
consent approval. 4mk.
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13. Identify the information and data that must be made available by the proponent on
their website. 5mk.
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Part 2 – Analysis of the EMP
Background
Now that you have read the Project Approval and the consent conditions, you understand
the need for the EMP. The document is written by the proponent’s management, with very
little involvement from the field technicians other than cursory questioning about site
specific criteria.
The field technician might work for;
⃘ a proponent (i.e. Orica).
⃘ a consultant that Orica hire
⃘ a regulatory authority (council, state or federal level)
The work from any side will be the same for the technician, but access to the EMP and other
systems may be limited if you work for a consultancy. As you work through this part of the
assignment, you need to imagine working from either perspective.
To answer the questions for this part, you will need access to Orica’s environmental
management strategy document (available from the subject website). It is not
recommended that you read this document like a book! Read the questions and then find
the answers in the document.
Task
With regards to the Orica strategy supplied, answer the following questions;
14. Read Section 2.2 and identify the Environmental Planning Instruments (such as Local
Environment Plans (LEPs) or State Environmental protection policies (SEPPs)), legislation
and licences that have been triggered by the activity at the commonwealth, state and
local levels. 7mk.
a. Commonwealth
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b. State
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c. Local
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15. According to Section 1.2 of the Orica’s strategy, what is the scope of responsibility for
achieving the environmental outcomes? 1mk.
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16. Use Section 2.1 of the EMS to list the major environmental aspects requiring monitoring
or other aspects of protection from the activity. 1mk.
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17. Assume that there has been an environmental incident (such as a fuel leak to surface
water). What is the proposed response? What would the environmental technician do as
part of that response? 3mk.
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18. In relation to Orica’s requirements for reporting and auditing, how would the
environmental technician be involved in the implementation of continual improvement?
2mk.
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Part 3 – Deriving monitoring requirements
Background
Once the key criteria have been identified from the EMP the monitoring needs to be
implemented and undertaken. In this case, the Environmental protection licence (EPL) will
be of use to determine this information.
As you have only undertaken fieldwork based on surface water sampling, we shall only focus
on that type of fieldwork in this section. Be aware that the same implementation strategies
will need to be applied to all aspects of the monitoring for the EMP.
Task
With reference to Orica’s Environmental Protection Licence (EPL), find the relevant
information to answer the following questions;
19. From section P1.2 of the EPL provided, identify the monitoring point that overflow water
from the treatment plant is sampled. 1mk.
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20. Identify from Section 3, L1 of the EPL which part of the Protection of Environment
Operations Act 1997 Orica must comply with? 1mk.
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21. Look up the Act (from the website provided), find the Section you identified above and
state what it says. 2mk.
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22. What are the requirements for monitoring of released water in Section 5, M2.1 of the
EPL? 2mk.
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23. List the analytes (pollutants) that need to be monitored. 1mk.
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24. From Section M3.1 of the EPL, identify what the testing of the samples must be
performed in accordance with. 1mk.
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25. Identify the frequency of the sampling required. 1mk.
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Part 4 – Implementation by the technician
Background
The EPL outlined the monitoring requirements including the samples required, the
pollutants to be monitored and the frequency at which they must be monitored. We shall
assume that by ‘Approved methods’ means that a NATA registered laboratory must be used
to perform the analysis except where field tests are required.
Task
With your knowledge of performing field sampling and testing for surface waters from your
studies or work (or read the Environmental Fieldwork Study modules), provide brief answers
to the following;
26. Now that you know what monitoring is required, identify five (5) types of paperwork
(physical or electronic) that you would require in order to perform the job properly (i.e.
in accordance with any implemented quality standards)?
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27. What testing equipment would you need to meet the requirements of the EPL? 2mk.
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28. Identify five pieces of calibration or QC consumables that would be the technician
needed to maintain the use of these instruments (read the Environmental Fieldwork
Study modules if you cannot think of the answer off hand!). 5mk.
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29. Assuming that ALS are the laboratory that Orica will use (note that this is not a
recommendation, just a convenience!), use the supplied chart to identify what sample
bottles the technician would need (using the bottles colour code). 4mk.
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30. Identify five pieces of sampling, preservation or transportation equipment that would be
required by the technician to perform the sampling. 5mk.
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31. As a summary of the process of discovery you have just undertaken, complete the
following table identifying the key documents or information at each step of the
implementation process. 20mk.
Phase of implementation
Key document/action
Likely Key personnel
Project approval
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Senior management
Project compliance
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All staff & contractors
Project operation
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Operations management
Monitoring requirements
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Operational staff and
technicians
Collection of samples
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Technicians
Analysis of samples
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Technicians or lab
Data collection and
interpretation
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Technicians and operational
staff
Reporting
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Operational staff
Auditing
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Operational management
Implementing
recommendations
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Senior management
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