When you see the term ‘environmental’, your mind naturally jumps to sustainability. While there is no doubt that sustainable work practices are essential in the building and construction industry, the term ‘environmental’ encompasses more than only sustainability.
In building and construction, the term ‘environmental’ also refers to those issues in the environment that can affect the project or the health and safety of the people working on it. For example:
- dust
- noise
- vibration
- weather
- recycling
- responsible management of waste
- responsible use of resources.
What are sustainable work practices?
Sustainable work practices are important in any industry, and the construction industry is no exception. Many environmental risks can occur on a building site, and an environmental management plan (EMP) is a document that aims to identify and reduce these risks. Which we will look into further detail as we progress through the learning. However, we are now going to look at what sustainability looks like in construction.
The idea behind designing and building sustainable homes is inspired by practical living, economically maintaining the residence, and having the least impact on the environment. The approach to sustainable development is balanced with economic, environmental, and social aspects. They are all dependent on each other to ensure the development is successful.
Many attributes are carefully considered to benefit these areas in the long term. Usually, the build is carefully designed considering insulation, ventilation, low maintenance materials, which essentially lower the costs of running a home.
There are several efficient sustainable practises that are already in place, some of which you may already be familiar with, including:
- a solar or gas hot water system instead of electric
- low flow taps and fittings
- water tank for the garden
- dual-flush toilet
- bulk ceiling and wall insulation.
In conjunction with these practices, many materials can be utilised sustainably, simply by reusing or recycling them. For example, concrete, bricks, steel, glass, and timber can be cleaned and used on other projects, sold second hand, recycled into new products or used for landscaping.
Environmental Management Plans
EMPs are in place to ensure construction projects are carefully undertaken to avoid potential harm or risk to the environment.
The EMP provides an overview of the environmental risks specific to the site and includes strategies to mitigate or control them. The types of risks included in an environmental management plan could include:
- hazardous substances
- stormwater management
- dust control
- air quality control
- asbestos management
- waste removal
- site clean up at the end of each day
- noise and vibration
- protection of local flora and fauna
- protection of heritage/historical buildings
- protection of significant trees and delicate vegetation
- water quality.
The EMP should also include:
- The roles and responsibilities of the key people involved in the environmental management of the site
- Emergency contacts
- Processes for dealing with environmental incidents
The EMP must be available and accessible to all workers accessing the site and regularly monitored and updated. If the EMP has had and adjustments made, all team members must be aware and have seen the updates to ensure they are being followed and put into practice.
When putting an EMP together, the document should include the following details:
- Description of the construction site and the surrounding environment
- A list of responsible people for implementing or amending the CEMP, their responsibilities and contact details
- List of construction works needed to complete the project, with expected time frames
- Identification of any potential negative environmental impacts and possible mitigation strategies for those impacts
- Management measures for source-receptor-exposure pathway mitigation
- Identification of a least one person responsible for complaints and communications
- Guidelines for reporting and verification
- Contingency plans for ineffective management measure.5
The following video outlines how to complete an EMP. Consider, however, that this video is a generic overview of what is involved in the process and what information you will need to include. The stakeholders you are working with may have their own template or method of conducting this plan. However, you must know what needs to be included.
Resource efficiency
When looking at resource efficiency for sustainable homes, the considerations lie with the materials, waste, water, and energy. One objective of resource efficiency is to maximise the use of what materials and resources are available and minimise waste.3 Other objectives include reduction in energy use, carbon footprints and greenhouse gasses.
The best following diagram illustrates the desired way to minimise waste effectively.
Waste minimisation levels (from most preferable to least preferable)
- Avoid
- Reduce
- Reuse
- Recycle
- Recover
- Treat
- Dispose
With this in mind, here are five steps you can take to minimise the waste efficiently and are outlined as follows. Click the steps to learn more on each step.
When committing to responsible waste management, you will need to ensure there is a waste minimisation policy in place with all team members across the process and actively involved. To ensure contractors and employees are aware and understand the process, the process should be incorporated in the site induction and signing of the policy after the development.
Ensure the resources and materials have been reviewed during the construction and demolition process while factoring in how materials would go to waste and how best to avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle what is available.
When developing a plan such as this, consider the following:
- Ensure staff will follow the plan by keeping them informed and providing them with relevant professional development training.
- Plan specific projects by conducting site assessments determining the availability of resources and alternatives for waste, including where to store waste materials and recovery stations.
- Understanding plan options and limitations by identifying, collecting and sorting the resources according to their usefulness for the job.
- Monitoring and reporting the program to identify lack of resources, establish financial outcomes and set goals and targets
- Focus on the high potential materials and practises that can be separated and collected for economic value
Ensure all team members have been properly trained and informed on methods and objectives of resource recovery.
These strategies may include:
- limit the types of resources being consumed on the worksite
- design works to avoid waste generation
- use modular/prefabricated frames and fit-outs when possible
- request minimal packaging from material suppliers
- ensure that materials that will generate minimal waste are used.3
From time to time, you will come across environmental hazards and resource efficiency issues that will require identification and reporting.
Consider the following scenario to help your understanding of environmental hazards resource efficiency issues.
Scenario
Blake has recently undertaken some professional development concerning identifying hazards and resource efficiency at work. On her way home, she drives past a construction site that has incorrectly disposed of waste materials.
Putting her newfound knowledge into practice, she decides to take the following picture to assess the hazards.
What Blake has discovered includes not only several materials that can be reused for other purposes, including offcuts of wood and bricks but broken glass, plastic and what could be fibro, which poses a risk of asbestos. Several hazards are present not only to people but the wildlife in the surrounding bushland. Should these materials have been dumped in the heat and the land surrounding the site dry, a fire could start from a flick of a cigarette and cause a chain of dangers.
None of the materials has been properly disposed of or sorted, let alone reused for something else.
In this scenario, Blake had discovered her way home and not on her job site. However, it is clear this particular site was not properly managed, and many hazards were evident.
If you are on a site where you find materials and waste that have not been disposed of properly or resource efficiency is not being followed, you will need to make a report. You will need to escalate this to your site supervisor to identify the correct procedure.
When you are making a report on such hazards, consider the following:
- refer to your workplace’s policies and procedures
- refer to the site’s environmental management plan
- for urgent safety issues, contact your site supervisor
- refer to the relevant SDS
- review manufacturer instructions
- look for the emergency response poster on site.
You have been provided with a template that outlines what a report of environmental hazards/ efficiency issues may look like. If Blake were reporting this to her own workplace, the report would be similar to the following. Access the following reporting template example.
