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OUR CODE OF PRACTICE
1.
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 wide 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.
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 which 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.
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.
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;
• 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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;
(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; or
(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.
Confidentiality
All
member information will be treated in a professional and
confidential manner.
11.
Acceptance of this Code of Practice
Members
are required to have this Code of Practice signed and dated by a
company representitve and witnessed as appropriate, with the
original to the ACLCA executive Officer.
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Signed
and dated Witnessed and dated
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