Monitoring Sustainable Work Practices - BSBSUS401

To complete the unit requirements safely and effectively, the individual must:
Identify relevant internal and external sources of information and explain how they can be used to identify sustainability improvements
Explain the compliance requirements for the work area with reference to legislation, regulations, codes of practice and workplace procedures that relate to environmental and resource issues
Outline common environmental and energy efficiency issues within the industry
Give examples of benchmarks for environmental and resource sustainability that are relevant to the organisation
Outline organisational systems and procedures that relate to environmental and resource sustainability improvements including

Part A

1. Legislation and sources of information for resources and initiatives
2. There are a number of environmental regulations that apply in Australian Local government area and they include the following; Approval of all activities in the local government so as to ensure a great impact of protecting the environment. The activities include the following, clearing of the environment, changing or destruction of water flow and many others. The Australian EPBC Act provides the basic information regarding laws and regulations of all environmental activities. In addition, the Australia Biodiversity conservation and Environment Protection Act of 1999 considers it an offense for anyone who takes an action that is likely to cause an impact on the environment, unless an approval is obtained from the Ministry of Environment.
3. In Australia, there are a number of initiatives and resources that have been put in place to help businesses reduce their waste and use resources more efficiently. In addition, the initiatives help in identifying and improving the environment by reducing costs and improving productivity. To note, the efficiency of resources is often the fast and cheap way of solving environmental problems as minimizing waste will reduce costs and size of disposal.  The resources and initiatives implemented in Australia include the following; Improve storage, this involves making an evaluation to determine the business needs to implement the environmental waste reduction processes or improve the current programs. In this case, assessment of water is a tool that is used to determine the stream of wastes. In addition, the assessment of wastes provides a clear idea of how much and what is going to be discarded and how the disposal should be done. Therefore, waste assessment information provides the basic ways of planning to reduce wastes and improve the practices of managing wastes in a business.

Environmental conservation, this involves the reducing energy use in households that range from simple equipment to extensive materials. The initiative is aimed at protecting the areas environment and saving utility bills. The initiatives involve the adjustment of daily behaviors so as to reduce the consumption of energy in homes.

Reducing air and Odor emissions, this initiative involves closing windows and doors the business premises in case odorous materials are being used.  In addition, it also involves the reduction of solvent quantities and volatile materials that are used in the business. In order to effectively work with odorous materials and solvents, the business should use spray booth or fume so as to limit the number of vapors that are exposed to the area.

3. The initiative that can be used in the Tourism, Hospitality and Event industry is preserving waterways. The initiative involves monitoring of all the waterways so as to ensure that there is no flooding in the area which might affect the tourism industry. Therefore, the initiative has very many resources and they include the following;

• Prevention of sediments forms different construction area that enters storm water drains.
• Identification of storm water drains with an intention of reducing discharge to a nearby creek.
• Ensuring that the water streams such as wash pads, filter separators, and many others are not joined to drains of storm water.

1. Measuring current consumption and identifying existing procedures of work practices and purchasing
2. Water meter

Electricity

Gas reading

2. Create a table or list and enter: all equipment and appliances used in one specific department (for example Kitchen, F&B etc.), and measure the consumption of electricity as listed on the appliance labels.

3. Measure the flow rate for water of various taps using the formula “Flow rate = Volume/Time (L/min)”

12 Min water shower rate = 15Liters/Minute

15litters/1 minute = 180 Litters/12 minutes

180Litters /12minutes = 15litters/minute.

4. Inspect the type of lighting used and determine the KW/H (1000 Watt = 1 KWH) used in that department based on typical or given workplace practices during operation.

The type of lighting used is HID lightening.

150 watt HID that uses a total of 150 watts

Energy that is Saved per hour (kWh 1000- kilowatt hours) = 1000 - 150 =  850 watts saved/ hour

Peak Demand- Energy Savings (kW) = 850 kilowatts of maximum light that is required at a time.

5. Inspect the provisions for recycling.

Recycling involves various requirements such as; providing various recycling systems with numerous recycling materials for employees, customers, and many others, minimizing the consumption rate by using limited appliances, educating other members concerning power consumption and maintaining all appliances in a good working condition.

6. Determine the intervals of waste collection and determine the size of the cubicle(s) used

7. This task is performed outside: Wearing gloves and using tongs, physically inspect the contents of garbage bins from your department and inspect the approximate waste for each category (Glass, paper, cardboard, green waste etc) and express these in percent (approximately).

8. Determine the energy consumption ratings, use, and settings of air conditioners and heaters where applicable and document the potential KWH usage for these units.

The air conditioner consumes an average of 228 kWh each month. In addition, the air conditioner consumes an average of 318watts. Heaters have an energy consumption rate of 10,000kwh.

9. Determine the resources required for any plants, landscaping or outside areas as relevant.

The resources required for any landscape, plant or outside areas include the following; groundcovers, well-placed trees, and shrubs. The resources help in reducing the cost of using energy at home, removing air pollution, increase comfort, produce oxygen and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide. In addition, the resources help in saving energy that plays an important role in reducing the demand for fossil fuel and refining costs.   

10. List the purchasing strategies which are currently in place including environmentally sustainable approaches; carbon footprint considerations (for example use local supplies from growers etc.)

Environmental purchasing refers to the way of inclusion of the environmental factors concerning the purchase of services and products. The purchasing strategies currently in place include the following; waste reduction, reduction of environmental packaging impacts, environmental reporting, and reduction of greenhouse and energy emission.

11. Identify any workplace environmental and occupational hazards you may encounter during your resource analysis.

During the resources analysis, I may encounter the following occupational and environmental hazards, machinery, hazardous substances such as fumes, biological wastes, skin injuries, electricity, and many others.

12. Identify any breaches or potential breaches for environmental practices you have encountered in the audited area during your project and outline the issues.

Environmental Conservation and Odor Reduction

During the projectI have encountered a number of breaches such as; slipping, tripping and falling, body stressing, struck by a sharp object which led to injuries. The breaches led  

1. Setting efficiency targets
2. Analyse the results you have obtained for use of resources and compare these results against

Work and workflow processes: – which improvements could be made?

The improvement could be made on the usage of energy consumption appliances so as to minimize energy cost.

Industry Schemes: – How do your results compare?

The results obtained indicate the various environmental resources that have been sued to reduce on various problems affecting water and energy consumption

Technology: – Are you using efficient technology?

The technology that is currently being used is not efficient

Resources: – Is there a benefit of switching e.g. from electricity to gas in some areas or using other measures?

There are great benefits of switching for electricity to gas in some areas because electricity is too expensive for some people mostly those who are over consuming it.

Best Practice: – Are there recommendations from manufacturers or bodies that recommend particular practices?

Yes, there are some recommendations from bodies or manufacturing indicating the use of gas and other particular practices.

2. Set your targets in a table or spreadsheet based on your findings of the analysis.
   

Usage of resources

3. Provisions for communication

To ensure effective communication, I will make sure that all the stakeholders are informed in time about what needs to be addressed. In addition, various matters that will be discussed will be outlined such as the need for energy improvement, water disposal, bin management, and many others.

Part B

Environmental resource efficiency improvement plan

Introduction

An environmental resource plan refers to the practical guide that assists various businesses to be more environmentally and financially sustainable with the help of improved resources. The plan is based on the three major principles and requires a joint approach to ensure that there is the management of water, waters premises, and water. Therefore. The plan explains the basic ways that will be used to solve issues concerning water, waste premises and energy. In addition, the plan involves the examination of business operating systems so as to obtain wide knowledge about the problems in the environment. Further, the plan is based on formulating the continuous approaches that can be used to manage the environment. Therefore, to ensure an effective development of the plan, a range of environmental factors will require examined so as to support efficient resources in the business.

Purpose

The purpose of the environmental resource efficiency improvement plan is aimed at improving the different approaches that can be used to manage the resources of the environment. In addition, the plan is aimed at examining a variety of factors that can efficiently support the use of resources in a given business.

Electricity and Energy Consumption

 Overview

In order to ensure an efficient environment resource improvement plan, a number of issues have been undertaken such as, the benefits that may arise as a result of improved environmental performance, the management of wastes as a way of proper business management. In this case, a number of wastes that are produced in business are considered so as to understand those that can be prevented. In addition, good energy management practice has also been looking at such as the use of oil,gas and electricity so as to estimate the total amount spent. In this case, it is very important to monitor the usage of electricity by regularly reading a meter and comparing use and production.

In order to achieve a better plan for improving environmental resources efficiently, a number of resources have been looked at as such as improvement of storage, assessment of wastes, determining streams of water and business needs. To ensure an effective implementation of the target resources, a number of activities will be performed such as reducing environmental cots of water conservation and management, management and monitoring of all the energy resources such as oil, and gas.

In order to ensure that all the staff members comply with the environmental requirements, they will be taught on various resources and initiatives of environment. In addition, the staff members will be taught how to handle various environmental issues such as waste of energy. Therefore, it will be the responsibility of every staff member to ensure that the environmental requirements are achieved.

Potential savings that can be achieved over time

Use of 10 light bulbs each at 0.080 kWh in the kitchen can be used instead of 10 energy saving LED bulbs that are rated at 0.013 kWh. An energy saving rate of 10*58=0.580 kWh x $0.1335/hour or $0.1335 x 10 = $1.335/day

Periodic communication provisions.

Monthly communications between colleagues will always be made so as to ensure if there is an adjustment or progress energy saving. In addition, communication will be done so as to analyze the fault that still exists in the implemented plan. Therefore, colleagues will always be consulted so as to determine if there is any need for the advancement of the resources and initiatives.

Examples of how to evaluate strategies and make adjustments to the improvement plan.

In case of any improvement plan, I will make sure that I comply with different businesses so as to determine if there is a need for an adjustment. In addition, I will analyze various business needs so as to determine if there is a need for adjustments. Further, various studies will also be made so as to determine the need for improvement. 

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