If you have been involved in the construction industry for a relatively long time, then you would have come across aConstruction Environmental Management Plan. If you haven’t, then you will be very soon. The reality is that nowadays society has become more conscious of the impact that human activities have on the surrounding environment. Governments have responded accordingly by passing legislation that obliges construction contractors to detail the expected impacts of a project on the environment and how they hope to successfully manage them.

Unfortunately, despite the increased use and importance of such plans, there are still many out there that have no idea how to prepare a Construction Environmental Management Plan. This short article hopes to outline some of the important components of a plan so that you can get a good head start the next time you need to write one for a project.

Here are just some of the components that need to be included in an environmental plan:

• A description of the project
• The objectives of the environmental plan
• Environmental responsibilities
• Legislative requirements
• Approvals, licenses and permits
• Procedures for managing communication and complaints
• Procedures for emergency responses
• Environmental training to be undertaken
• Environmental protection measures to be taken

In Australia, from where I’m from, the main environmental legislation is what is known as the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The legislation in your country will be different and it would be a wise decision to study it to make sure that environmental plan complies with it.

There is certainly no room for complacency when it comes to aConstruction Environmental Management Plan.