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Environmental Audit Training

SWMP

Training Officers from several Government departments were introduced to the principles of environmental auditing through a joint initiative of the Sewerage and Solid Waste Project Unit (SSWPU) and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO). Project Manager, Solid Waste Sandra Prescod stressed there was a clear need to conduct environmental audits in order to develop an efficient waste minimisation programme which is at the heart of this country’s Integrated Solid Waste Management Programme. “It is a matter of knowing where an organisation is, so it can chart a way forward,” Ms. Prescod said. She further explained that the audits are carried out for several reasons: to demonstrate the interconnectivity of waste minimisation issues; raise awareness among those who can influence others and to introduce the latest technologies and equipment available. To this end she said, the decision to hold such a workshop came out of discussions between PAHO and the SSWPU, on solid waste management and funding provided as part of PAHO’s biennial programme. The over 20 participants were drawn from a cross-section of areas of the Ministry of Health including the SSWPU, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Sanitation Service Authority and several Environmental Health Officers. Representatives also came from the Labour Department, the Barbados National Standards Institution, the Environmental Engineering Division, the Ministry of Physical Development and the Environment and the Coastal Zone Management Unit. The course was conducted by United States based consultant Dr. Kenneth Jennings of Gary Struthers Associates. Dr. Jennings, who has wide experience in this field including a doctorate in environmental engineering, has been travelling to Barbados for over 25 years working both here and Trinidad. There was both a theoretical and practical application of the principles of environmental auditing over the week-long course. Participants looked at the various operations and practises that could release contaminants in the air, water and land and the ramifications, thereby highlighting the importance of environmental auditing. “The central point being, since Barbados in the main is an island composed of limestone, the transport of contamination can potentially move through and impact this country more quickly and severely than in other geologic settings,” Dr. Jennings said. Dr. Jennings noted there were several important outcomes of the workshop in particular, increased awareness of environmental hazards in Barbados and the introduction to the benefits and methods of environmental auditing. The need for advanced audit training and similar seminars were also part of the forward planning.