There are no general requirements in law for companies or their employees to possess specific skills or qualifications regarding the environment.
In the case of some premises and processes which require specific licences to operate, requirements regarding training, skills and qualifications may be written into specific process licences or permits. Key specific examples are shown below.
Environmental permitting
One of the main requirements of Environmental Permitting is that the process operator must demonstrate that the ‘best available techniques’ are being used to operate the process.
The term ‘techniques’ includes both the technology used and the way in which the installation is designed, built, maintained, operated and decommissioned.
The staff who do this work require adequate qualifications, training and expertise. Any operator of a site or process governed by an environmental permit will, therefore, have to consider the levels of skills and knowledge of key employees.
There is no specific qualification which makes a person ‘competent’. Competence is judged by the operators of the process and ultimately by the regulators.
Environmental permitting and WAMITAB
Sites where waste materials are kept, transferred and treated must have an environmental permit. Some industrial sites with their own in-house waste treatment facilities may also need a permit. The Regulations state that the permit holder must be a ‘fit and proper person’. As well as criteria regarding an absence of legal convictions relating to waste management and financial issues, the Regulations go on to require that a site be operated by ‘a technically competent person’.
To be deemed to be technically competent for the purposes of waste management, the person in charge of a site must have a qualification issued by the Waste Management Industry Training and Assessment Board (WAMITAB).
WAMITAB is the awarding body for the waste management industry in England and Wales. WAMITAB’s own website sets out its qualifications in the following way:
The ‘fit and proper person’ requirements of Environmental Permits require a Certificate of Technical Competence. This scheme is based on firstly achieving a vocational qualification at Level 3 or 4 (for England and Wales), and then the successful candidate is awarded a Certificate of Technical Competence (COTC) by WAMITAB.
The operation of any permitted waste management site must be overseen by a technically competent person who possesses a COTC.