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