Sustainability Flashcards
What is the concept of sustainability in the workplace?
Sustainability is the ability to continue an activity for a prolonged period of time while minimising the risk to the environment.
- Triple bottom line
- CSR
- Ecological footprint
Environmentally sustainable work practices reduce harm to the environment and reduce wastage of resources.
- Reducing waste
- Repairing instead of replacing
- Using recycled materials
- Reducing operating costs
What are the principles of sustainability in the business services industry?
Acronym: EES
- Economic
- Environmental
- Social concerns
What are consequences of poor sustainable work practices?
- Hazardous chemicals → negative effect on health
- Rain water leaches → from landfill → harm animals (polluted water)
- Incineration of waste → respiratory problems
- Accidental spills
- Water pollution → killing wildlife → harm to humans
- Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions → impact quality of air
What is the meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility
- Concerns impact on social systems.
- Degrade wellbeing of future generations because operations are not socially sustainable
What are general features of Australian and international standards for corporate social sustainability? What is social sustainability?
Social sustainability occurs when the formal and informal processes, systems, structures and relationships actively support the capacity of current and future generations to create healthy and liveable communities.
Features:
- Provision of affordable housing
- Education
- Training and employment
- Safety and security.
What is the best practice sustainability models in a business services workplace?
- Introducing flexible office spaces.
- Making sustainability part of workplace culture.
- Introducing policies to promote sustainability.
- Building eco-friendly supply chains.
- Becoming a green building.
What are benefits of sustainable work practices?
- Addressing ethical obligations and responsibilities (reputation, customer loyalty, profitability and investors)
- Compliance with legislation and regulations (avoid legal issues)
- Positive environmental impacts
- Reputation benefits (work culture, future generations, higher productivity)
What are workplace sustainability policy and procedures?
- Policy and procedures recognise the impact a business has on the environment.
- These policies and procedures could cover things like energy usage, recycling, and avoiding the use of paper.
What is the meaning of compliance and best of practice?
- Compliance refers to the act of following a request or command.
- Best practice refers to the most effective and accepted commercial or professional procedures.
What are the level of compliance in relation to environmental requirements?
- Workplace
- Industry
- Government (local, state/territory and Commonwealth)
What is the purpose and intent of environmental legislation and its application to the business services industry and workplace, and specific job role?
- PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT OPERATIONS ACT 1997 (NSW)
- Establishment of Protection of the Environment policies (PEPs)
- Implementation of Integrated Environment Protection Licensing
- Regulation of Scheduled and Non-Scheduled Activities
- Factors to be considered when granting licenses
- Issuing licenses with conditions and reviews
- Integration of licensing and planning processes
(Look at study notes for further detail)
- CLEAN ENERGY LEGISLATION (CARBON TAX REPEAL) ACT 2014 (AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT) (AS AMENDED)
- Removed the obligation for large businesses to report their greenhouse gas emissions under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System.
What is the primary role/function of regulators and key bodies involved in environmental protection?
○ NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA)
○ NSW Office of Environment and Heritage
○ Clean Energy Regulator (Cth)
○ Department of the Environment (Cth)
○ Local Councils
What is the primary function of the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA)?
- Environmental body partners with business, government and community to reduce waste and pollution, maintain human health and prevent degradation of the environment
- Manages environmental issues and responds to pollution incidents and emergencies
- Enforces environmental regulations related to air, water, and noise pollution, waste and resource recovery, and hazardous materials
What is the primary function of the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage?
- Cares for and protects NSW’s environment and heritage, including the natural environment, Aboriginal country, culture and heritage, and built heritage
- Supports the community, business, and government in protecting and making the most of a healthy environment and economy in NSW through five functional areas including national parks/wildlife services, regional operations, heritage, policy, and science
What is the primary function of a Clean Energy Regulator (Cth)?
- Independent Statutory Authority
- Administers carbon pricing mechanism
- These schemes aim to reduce carbon emissions and increase the use of clean energy
- Responsibilities: working with other law enforcement, accrediting auditors, providing education on their schemes, collecting and analysing data
What is the primary function of the Department of Environment (Cth)?
Designs and implements Australian Government policy and programs to protect and conserve the environment, water, and heritage, promote climate action, and provide adequate, reliable, and affordable energy
What is the primary function of Local Councils?
- Ensures peace, order, and good governance of its municipality through strategic planning, advocacy, representation, policy development, and law making
What are the workplace policy and procedures relating to environmental compliance, including reporting breaches and potential breaches within the organisation/workplace and externally?
- Business should reflect on its activities, concerns and priorities before writing a policy or procedure
Examples of policies and procedures for a green business (detail in textbook):
- Tracking resource use to improve efficiency
- Energy
- General purchasing
- Selection and use of office equipment
- Sustainable materials
- Water efficiency
- Reducing waste
- Purchasing (stock control)
What are the benefits of workplace policy and procedures relating to environmental compliance?
- Conserves raw materials and energy
- Reduces incidents
- Improves efficiency
- Helps the business comply with legislation
- Improves the monitoring of environmental impacts
- Improves info on environmental roles and responsibilities to employees
What are the consequences of failure to observe (non-compliance) environmental workplace policy and procedures and legislative requirements? Who is responsible?
- The EPA is responsible for investigating and reporting non-compliance with environmental protection legislation.
- BREACH can include an official warning letter, penalty notice or negotiation, clean-up notices, prevention notices.
- An enforceable undertaking is a voluntary and legally binding agreement between the EPA and the individual/business that has breached environmental legislation but where the breach does not warrant prosecution.
THREE TIERS:
- Tier 1 offenses are the most serious and can result in penalties of up to $5 million and 7 years in jail.
- Tier 2 non-compliance offenses include water pollution, which can attract penalties of up to $2 million for corporations and $500,000 for individuals.
- Tier 3 offenses are dealt with by penalty notices, imposing fines that can be paid or defended in court
Discuss a range of environmental hazards and risks typical to a business services workplace.
- Poor or inadequate lighting (productivity, eye strain, headaches).
CORRECTION: replace lightbulbs and clean light fittings on a regular basis, install in more appropriate places and paint dark walls with lighter colours - Glare (direct: sunlight or reflected: shiny surfaces), headaches, decrease vision
CORRECTION: installing blinds, numerous small lights, diffusers over light, brightness control, removing high gloss finish surfaces - Poor ventilation (carbon dioxide/pollutants accumulate) workers get sleepy, headaches and underperform. Pollutants include biological organisms, vapours from furniture, cleaning agents and photocopier and printer toners.
CORRECTION: open windows/doors, equipment is ventilated - Inadequate temperature control (hot/cold), affects productivity, comfortability
CORRECTION: aircon is deflected away from workers - Poor housekeeping (slips, trips, falls), cluttered workspaces, obstacles in corridors
CORRECTION: identify hazards/problem, clean up, routine housekeeping as a part of their schedule - Ergonomic hazards (physical factors affecting musculoskeletal system), repetitive movement, manual handling, design of workplace, incorrect work stations, poor body positioning.
CORRECTION: well designed workplaces/job/tasks, suit individual worker - Electrical hazards (burn/shock, tissue/muscles/nerves, death). Causes include ungrounded equipment, frayed cords, overloaded power points, improper placement of electrical cords, unplugged cords –> fire hazards
CORRECTION: electrical equipment turned off, examined for problems on a regular basis, substitute - Chemical hazards (cleaning products, paints, flammable aerosols, gas cylinders and fumes from printers and photocopiers), inappropriate use/storage of chemicals –> explosions/fires –> injuries/burns –> long term effects –> cancer
CORRECTION: Chemicals must be handled and stored correctly to minimise risk and areas with printers and photocopiers well ventilated
What are the personnel responsible for environmental hazard identification and risk control in a business services workplace?
- Depends on size of business
- Mostly employer, but every worker must be vigilant in identifying hazards to minimise harm
- Small office: owner
- Larger office: office manager, supervisor or HSR
- Hazard identified –> risk assessment –> procedures to eliminate/reduce risk
- Operating procedures revised/updated
- Incidents reported and evaluated
What is involved when reporting environmental hazards and risks in a business services workplace?
- Hazard reported immediately
- Acute hazard: verbally to supervisor, owner or HSR (procedures for emergency situations)
- Less acute hazard: Complete hazard/risk report form (its nature and location)
- Raise issue in staff meeting
What is a resource?
Economic or productive factor that is used by a person or organisation to accomplish an activity or achieve a desired outcome
- Land
- Labour
- Capital
- (more in textbook)
