Page 18 - GreenMaster Winter 2023

Fire extinguisher and spill kit buried in snow. Not what an auditor wants to see.
June 29th 2021 record smashing high temp at Sun Peaks.
July 1st 2021 lightning hits the mountain above my house, 10 days later we were evacuated.
down with the Executive Management team and telling them what our failures are is not a comfortable place to be. However, it does lead to beneficial outcomes, such as capital items and training programs, which is where we get the continual improvement then the cycle starts all over again.
MOVING FORWARD
Management systems are a great way to keep it all organized and tracked and they are respected by government decision makers and inspectors. It helps streamline application processes and, in many cases, speeds up approvals because agencies we deal with frequently, will know that you have this in place and are accountable.
In closing, I have had heard many criticisms about ISO, accusing it of being “Greenwashing”, I highly disagree. How do you react to a situation if you don’t have a plan? How are staff trained and how do they access information if needed? What was your last emergency situation and what have you done to prevent it from happening again? Yes, it may be document heavy and many employees may never see or use them but like we have all heard over the years, if you didn’t write it down, it didn’t happen!
If you are interested in a management system and would like more information, please reach out. I do enjoy the processes and love sharing with my fellow golf industry colleagues. GM
you do. At some point in time, you will be inspected, the last thing you will be wanting to do is write these in the middle of the summer to satisfy an Occupational Health and Safety officer rather than a fertility application or irrigation problem. Feel free to contact me if you need help on these, I have many!
Doing also includes items such as responsibility, who’s in charge and when. Support such as spill response products, fire suppression systems, effective and safe storage of hazardous products etc. Effective training, meetings and other means of communication. Ensuring documentation is valid and updated as things like products or regulations change and ensuring old documentation is not accessible to avoid confusion. Recording items such as daily logs, pesticide/fertilizer use and its effectiveness, equipment logs etc. Pretty much just like your IPM records, only more. I would also encourage you to record any related conversations, especially if it’s government officials or a question about your environmental policies from members/guests or anyone from the general public.
3. Check
I am certified in both ISO 14001 EMS and COR H&S auditing. I wish I could tell you that at audit time everything goes smoothly, staff are all trained and understand our standards, and everyone is happy when I come to see them. Well, that’s not the case!
Often times, emails are ignored, department heads don’t tell their staff I’m coming and are quite surprised or they just don’t care enough. However, auditing our programs is the best way to evaluate our environmental and H&S programs. Done both internally and by our external registrars, it shows us where our deficiencies are, how we will correct them and by when.
Similar to what you are doing with IPM, monitor (and record) as much as you can, each spill over a predefined quantity, equipment calibration, drills, failure to comply with a known regulation and so on. This type of monitoring will help in the event of an inspection or in the event of an emergency situation.
4. Act
The final part of this program is where the changes are made, from procedures to policies to resources. To emergency response and future improvements. It is impossible to know what you need if you have not evaluated it. For me, this becomes one of the most difficult parts. Sitting
18 • CGSA • GreenMaster