How you use these guidelines is a matter of personal choice. Some people may like to start at the front cover and read to the last page – but you don’t have to; the guidelines are designed so you can get a quick overview of the issues and then prioritise the areas on which you want to focus for your business.
These guidelines have three main components:
- introductory chapters that provide background information about the issues and the guidelines
- the main working chapters to help you assess and manage your enterprise. These chapters cover risk assessment, suggested practices, monitoring and recording options, and references and further resources for the eight key management chapters
- a series of practical tools and resources.
We recommend that you choose to start in one the following ways:
Select a Chapter and start with the associated Risk Assessments
The guidelines cover a total of 20 different topics, divided into eight numbered chapters. At the start of each major topic, there is a simple Risk Assessment diagram that asks key questions about your enterprise. Work your way through each Risk Assessment, answering the questions. If you identify a ‘high risk’ issue you need to take some action – so read the Suggested Practices for the topic explore your options. If you identify a ‘low risk’ issue you probably do not have a significant problem. However, you may want to read on to check your understanding of the issues.By working through all the Risk Assessments you can prioritise issues that may need attention on your property.
The guidelines cover a total of 20 different topics, divided into eight numbered chapters. At the start of each major topic, there is a simple Risk Assessment diagram that asks key questions about your enterprise. Work your way through each Risk Assessment, answering the questions. If you identify a ‘high risk’ issue you need to take some action – so read the Suggested Practices for the topic explore your options. If you identify a ‘low risk’ issue you probably do not have a significant problem. However, you may want to read on to check your understanding of the issues.By working through all the Risk Assessments you can prioritise issues that may need attention on your property.
Start with the Review Checklist
The checklist covers the major environmental assurance issues dealt with in the main text of the guidelines. By working through the checklist you will get an idea of your priority areas and you can then read the relevant topic in more detail. (We have provided a second ‘working’ copy of the checklist under the Work sheets heading. Use these to complete your first review.) The Checklist is divided into tables covering a range of topics. Select a topic and turn to the matching chapter in the guidelines and look for the Risk Assessment diagram. By working though the Risk Assessment you can quickly determine if that particular topic is a ‘high’ or ‘low’ risk for your business.If the topic is significant for your business, complete the relevant checklist table and record the answers.Read the Suggested Practices for the topic to explore your management options. The guidelines also provide information about monitoring options and sources of additional information for each topic.
The checklist covers the major environmental assurance issues dealt with in the main text of the guidelines. By working through the checklist you will get an idea of your priority areas and you can then read the relevant topic in more detail. (We have provided a second ‘working’ copy of the checklist under the Work sheets heading. Use these to complete your first review.) The Checklist is divided into tables covering a range of topics. Select a topic and turn to the matching chapter in the guidelines and look for the Risk Assessment diagram. By working though the Risk Assessment you can quickly determine if that particular topic is a ‘high’ or ‘low’ risk for your business.If the topic is significant for your business, complete the relevant checklist table and record the answers.Read the Suggested Practices for the topic to explore your management options. The guidelines also provide information about monitoring options and sources of additional information for each topic.
