| TRAINING ALIGNMENT
Since Term 2 of the Biodiversity Partnership
started in 2006, there has been progress towards ‘embedding biodiversity in
BAT’. Publication in November 2006 of the Biodiversity
Statement was an important milestone.
In it, BAT recognises its
dependence on biodiversity and commits to assessing and mitigating
its impacts. Various ‘tools’ such as biodiversity
roadmaps and guidelines help to put these intentions into effect.
Most importantly, it is BAT Policy that Operating Companies shall
assess ‘any negative impacts due to company operations on
the diversity of life and natural systems’. ‘Biodiversity
Risk Assessment’ is at the core of BAT’s approach to
managing its relationship with ecosystems. But how should companies ‘assess
biodiversity risks’?
During 2006 a ‘Biodiversity Risk & Opportunity Assessment
tool’ was developed to help companies answer that question,
and in 2007 this was adapted into the ‘Best Practice for
Biodiversity - A procedure for assessing threats to biodiversity
and opportunities for corrective action’. During 2007
the Biodiversity Partnership worked with two companies to pilot
this tool, carrying out assessments in Uganda and Indonesia.
To align the Partnership’s approach to BAT’s
own training system, Paul Laird (from Earthwatch) attended an
EHS Review Skills training programme in South Africa in November
2007, to learn alongside other delegates and to contribute a
session on Biodiversity. The Course was organised by Chris Lamb
(EHS Development Manager).
BAT has a comprehensive approach to training,
including EHS Reviewing – which
is a form of audit applied to test the EHS management systems.
Many of these skills and practices form part of the BAT EHS in
house training programmes.
The course brought together EHS professionals – with varying
experience - from 19 countries. In carrying out EHS organisational
reviews of Operating Companies, they will visit company sites,
review documents and make observations. They will review
conformance with the Law and BAT Policy, and confirm companies’ self
assessments on the EHS roadmaps (including biodiversity). At the
end of the Review, they will agree any findings with company managers,
so that the company can put in place a corrective action plan.
As a new subject, which some companies
may find challenging, Biodiversity is a mandatory topic for EHS
reviews this year. We hope that
the South Africa course helped ‘de-mystify’ Biodiversity
for EHS Reviewers. EHS reviews will provide good opportunities
for companies to check whether they have assessed threats to biodiversity
in a way that is commensurate with potential risks, and where
necessary, how far they have gone in developing and implementing
corrective action plans.
Representation of the Biodiversity Partnership
on the South Africa course helped to improve training alignment,
and has facilitated the improved understanding, by the biodiversity
partners, of the BAT EHS process of review – and how Biodiversity fits within
it. We hope that it will also help ensure that Biodiversity
is addressed consistently across the company. We will continue
to seek other training alignment opportunities and activities to
build on this start.
|
Q1/2008
