|
CODE OF
PRACTICE
1.0
Preamble
The
responsible management of contaminated land, conservation and
management of resources, and the improvement of the standards of
living, including public health, are greatly affected by the work
of our Members. For our work to be fully effective, it is
necessary not only that our Members strive constantly to widen
their knowledge and improve their skills, but also that the wider
community be willing to recognise the integrity and trust the
judgement of our Members. For this to happen, our Association
must be recognised in the wider community for:
♦
our skills in using technical expertise in contaminated land
management for the enhancement and protection of human and
environmental health;
♦
our loyalty to the community, to employees and Clients and to our
employees; and
♦
our honesty and impartiality in professional practice.
Our
Members shall so organise their work so as to merit and protect
this trust.
To this
end, our Members are required to comply with this Code of Practice,
to give active support to the proper regulation of qualifications,
employment and practice of our profession, and to promote the
development and application of appropriate technology in the
interest of our industry and the wider community.
Members
acting in accordance with this Code will have the support of the
Association.
This
Code of Practice applies to all work carried out by Members of the
Australian Contaminated Land Consultants' Association Incorporated
(ACLCA) in the field of contaminated land consultancy
services.
2.0
Definitions
"ACLCA"
and "Association" means the Australian
Contaminated Land Consultants' Association Incorporated.
"Contaminated
land consulting services" include assessment and
remediation of soil and/or groundwater contamination and
hydrogeological studies undertaken in areas where groundwater
contamination is an actual or potential issue of
concern.
"Member"
means a consultancy firm that has been admitted as a member of the
Association.
"Site"
means any location where a Member proposes to or has actually
carried out contaminated land consultancy services.
3.0
Professional Competency
In
respect to acceptable levels of professional and technical
competency, Members shall:
♦
assess all their staff to be employed on contaminated land
consultancy services in relation to the Association's list of
professional and technical competencies (a list is available from
ACLCA Executive Officer);
♦
ensure that the staff to be employed as part of the project team
possess relevant levels of competency, appropriate to their
statement of duties; and
♦
develop and implement training plans for their staff to develop and
maintain the required competencies.
4.0
Ethical Standards
Members
of ACLCA shall set out their ethical standards in a policy
statement that is made available to all staff and is provided to
clients on their request. A copy of the ethical standard
policy of each new member shall be provided to ACLCA prior to their
application for membership of the Association being
considered.
Foundation members of
the Association shall provide a copy of their ethical standard
policy within one month of the Association adopting this Code of
Practice.
The
ethical standards policy statement shall include the following
provisions, that Members shall:
♦
contract to carry out any services only for which they have
appropriate levels of competency and experience;
♦
include in a report, no statement that it knows to be
untrue;
♦
not knowingly omit from any finalised report any information that
would materially alter the conclusions that could be drawn from the
report;
♦
not endorse information supplied by their client or any other
organisation without taking reasonable steps to determine the
validity of the information or where this is not possible, note
that such independent verification has not been possible;
and
♦
inform the client in writing should any member become aware of an
issue that results in a significant risk of harm that has not been
reported.
5.0
Qualifications
Members
shall undertake provision of contaminated land consultancy services
only when staff employed in tasks such as sampling, monitoring and
recording and contributing to reporting have:
♦
recognised and relevant engineering scientific or technical
qualifications and/or appropriate experience for the duties they
perform or have received appropriate in-house training to enable
them to perform these duties;
♦
received in-house or external training in all relevant techniques
to be used for collection of samples or monitoring and are familiar
with and experienced in operating procedures or practices as
documented in the Member's quality system;
♦
acquired experience in previous similar work, or are supervised by
a member of staff having such experience; and
♦
acquired familiarity with basic concepts, policy and legislation
issues relating to contaminated land.
6.0
Quality Management System (QMS)
Members
shall provide evidence to the Association of their firm having
implemented an acceptable Quality Management System (QMS) for
controlling the quality and adequacy of their consultancy
services. This QMS shall be appropriate for the size and
structure of the Member organisation, and the nature of the work
routinely undertaken.
The
Association shall maintain a list of the standard of quality
management systems of each member, which shall be up-dated
periodically.
In
accordance with the requirements of their quality management
system, each Member shall set up an internal audit procedure that
will verify that the above requirements have been compiled with on
a sufficient number of randomly selected sample
projects.
7.0
Management of Contaminated Land Projects
The
responsible management of contaminated land projects by our Members
will be demonstrated by the implementation by our Members of a
number of essential procedures that are outlined below. As
for all environmental projects, the actual scale and extent of
these procedures will be based on the nature and agreed scope of
the works that are to be performed.
7.1
Site Management Plan (SMP), Health & Safety Plan (HSP) and
Sampling & Analysis Plan (SAP)
Prior to
commencing any work on a site where it could reasonably be expected
that a concern for the environment might arise, Members shall
ensure that appropriate SMPs, HSPs and SAPs have been
prepared. (Details of the minimum requirements for these
plans are under development).
8.0
Annual Reporting to ACLCA
As part
of the annual membership renewal process, each Member shall submit
a statement to the effect that it continues to follow this Code of
Practice.
9.0
Non-conformance with Code of Practice
In the
event that the Association receives a complaint from an
identifiable third party (e.g. the EPA, a client, or a member of
the general public) that a Member has or may have contravened this
Code of Practice, the following provisions will apply:
a.
Except as otherwise provided by this clause, the President of ACLCA
('the President") will investigate the
complaint.
b.
The President may, however, decide to take no action concerning a
complaint if the President considers that the complaint falls into
any of the following categories:
(i)
the complaint is frivolous, vexatious, or not made in good
faith;
(ii)
the subject-matter of the complaint is trivial or does not warrant
investigation;
(iii)
the subject-matter of the complaint has been or is under
investigation by some other competent person or body or has been or
is the subject of legal proceedings;
(iv)
the subject raises issues that require investigation by another
person or body; or
(v)
there is or was, in relation to the matter complained of, a
satisfactory alternative means of dealing with the matter by the
complainant.
c.
Where the President decides to take no action concerning a
complaint, the President shall notify the complainant and give the
reasons for the decision.
d.
Where the President decides to investigate a complaint, the
President shall give notice to the Member against whom the
complaint has been made of the nature of the complaint, with
sufficient information being given so as to enable the Member to
respond to it.
e.
The notice must indicate that the Member may make representations
to the President before a specified date being a date that is
reasonable in the circumstances of the case.
f.
The Member may, in accordance with any such notice, make
representations to the President.
g.
The President is required to hear and to consider any
representations made by the Member and to make a decision, as
expeditiously as possible, as to whether there is a reasonable
likelihood that the Member has contravened this Code of
Practice.
h.
After hearing and considering any representations made by the
Member, the President, if satisfied that there is a reasonable
likelihood that the Member has contravened this Code of Practice,
shall, by notice in writing served on the member, require the
Member to attend, at a time and place specified in the notice,
before a Special Meeting of the Association's Executive.
i.
The Executive shall conduct a hearing into the matter as
expeditiously as possible and may inform itself of any matter in
such manner, as it thinks fit. A finding of the Executive is
to be made on the balance of probabilities.
j.
The Executive may, if it finds the complaint against the Member is
proved:
(i)
counsel the Member;
(ii)
reprimand the Member; or
(iii)
terminate the Member's membership of the Association.
k.
The Executive must provide a written statement of the decision made
in the proceedings before it to the Member against whom the
proceedings were taken.
l.
The statement of a decision must:
(i)
set out the findings on material questions of fact;
(ii)
refer to any evidence or other material on which the findings were
based; and
(iii)
give the reasons for the decision.
m.
Where a Member's membership of the Association is terminated, the
Member shall not be entitled to any repayment of any remaining
membership fees and will not be permitted to reapply to the
Association for readmission for at least 12 months from the date of
termination.
NOTE:
The provisions set out above are designed to ensure that a Member
is accorded "natural justice" (or "procedural
fairness") before any decision is made by the Association
which might affect the Member's rights, interests or legitimate
expectations. Adequate notice of the time and venue of any
hearing, and the issues to be considered, must be given so that a
reasonable opportunity is provided for the Member to prepare for
and attend the hearing. There would not appear to be any
general entitlement to legal representation or
cross-examination. Any hearing must accord with all accepted
notions of fairness. The Association is not obliged to inform
the Member of all of the details of any complaint made against the
Member or of the investigations of its officers. However, the
Member must be given "sufficient information" so as to
know the substance of any complaints and investigations.
Sources of confidential information and the identity of
complainants may be preserved. It should be noted that the
investigation and disciplinary process set out above is not
intended, and must not be allowed, to develop into a series of
minor trials. The actual requirements will depend upon the
facts of each particular case.
10.0
Confidentiality
All
member information will be treated in a professional and
confidential manner.
PDF
Version of ACLCA CODE OF
PRACTICE
| 