BSBSUS201 Partcipate in environmental sustainable workpractices

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Making Sustainability Work

A guideline on how to use educational tools for

sustainability

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Prepared by SD Environmental Management for NSW Environmental Trust December 2014 For more information about this Guide contact: NSW Environmental Trust PO Box 644 PARRAMATTA NSW 2124 Phone: 02 8837 6093 Email: [email protected]

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Table of Contents 1. Sustainability Change Starts with Conversation ................................................................. 4

2. The 5 steps to Sustainability ............................................................................................... 5

3. What resources exist to help us? ....................................................................................... 7

4. STEP 1: Get Ready ............................................................................................................... 9

5. STEP 2: Build Consensus ................................................................................................... 15

6. STEP 3: Be honest ............................................................................................................. 19

7. STEP 4: Ramp up and go ................................................................................................... 23

8. STEP 5: Review and consider ............................................................................................ 31

9. Sustainability in the Aged-care Sector: case studies ........................................................ 37

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1. SUSTAINABILITY CHANGE STARTS WITH CONVERSATION

In NSW there are more than 930 aged care facilities with over 63,900 places/beds at these centres. This sector will continue to grow as our population ages and it is estimated that by 2051, people aged 65 years and over will represent one quarter of the Australian population (6.8 million people). While much work has been done across the Aged Care sector to achieve sustainability outcomes through facility design and review of operations, there remains an opportunity to better engage managers, employees and residents in sustainability conversations and initiatives. Linking environmental sustainability initiatives with employee engagement makes good business sense. Employee engagement – or the practice of creating supportive, stimulating, collaborative and rewarding work environments – is nothing new. Good workplaces have always motivated and involved their workers to gain operational efficiency, better relations and strengthen community ties. Putting sustainability into practice requires an engaged workforce doing the work, and synchronizing employee engagement with sustainability strategy is key to building an innovative, environmentally responsible, and socially conscious organisation. Workers on the front line are often in the best position to identify inefficiencies, propose solutions and engage with other staff, contractors, suppliers and residents in sustainability conversations. Many aged care facilities across NSW have implemented staff engagement initiatives and established “Green Teams” to help drive internal grass roots sustainability efforts. While there have been some great outcomes across the sector, it is important to acknowledge that without clear sustainability goals, strategies and guidelines, one-off efforts to recycle or reduce electricity consumption will only have fleeting impact. Worse still, ‘dis-integrated’ efforts can lead to disengagement, disappointment and added costs. The aim of this Guideline is to assist Aged Care providers throughout NSW to more effectively use existing resources to engage staff and management in long-term integrated environmental sustainability and resource efficiency programs which lead to real change. The resources developed as part of an Environmental Trust Grant in 2009 will facilitate the engagement process (see Page 24), however we have included a number of important steps for you to follow to ensure your use of the resources is appropriate for your facility and integrated into the fabric of the organisation. Let the conversations begin.

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2. THE 5 STEPS TO SUSTAINABILITY Before you begin, you will need to make sure you have defined sustainability for your organisation and that all staff are aware of the definition and the organizational and personal implications of the definition. This Guideline focuses on environmental sustainability outcomes. You may want to integrate social and economic outcomes as well to provide an integrated approach to your sustainability initiatives. This Guideline promotes five key steps to help your facility achieve real environmental sustainability outcomes. Ideally you will want to work though each of these steps, however some organisations may be further progressed along their sustainability journey and may join in at Step 2 or 3. A word of warning though: it is best not to jump straight into implementation and wildly distribute the existing resources without reviewing where you’re at, engaging your staff and having some kind of a plan for moving forward. The 5 steps we encourage you to follow are:

Step 3 Be honest Goals and objectives Prioritise actions Understand what works for you

Step 5 Review & consider Aim for continual improvement

Step 1 Get ready Drivers Baselines Knowledge

Step 4 Ramp up and go Implement actions Use existing resources Step 2

Build consensus Green teams Engagement Management support

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This Guideline helps you to explore each of these steps further to ensure you get the most out of your environmental sustainability efforts. While the key aim of the Guideline is to support the use of educational tools developed for the Aged Care sector, they have been extended to show you the most effective processes in which to use the tools to achieve maximum benefit and outcomes from your efforts. By using this Guideline you’ll get:  A better understanding of your environmental sustainability impacts and

opportunities  An understanding of how to integrate environmental sustainability into your

decision-making processes  A process for engaging your managers, workers and residents in environmental

sustainability initiatives  A clearer understanding of existing resources and tools to help you deliver long-term

resource efficiency programs and outcomes  Knowledge of how other aged-care providers are achieving sustainability outcomes.

The structure of this Guideline is shown in the table below with each step including additional information, tools, links and resources to help you along your journey. The steps are listed in the order that most businesses would implement environmental sustainability and resource efficiency programs, but it’s up to you to choose where to begin, as this will depend on what your organisation has already achieved. Step 1 Get ready

• Understand your baseline • Determine your organisational drivers • Know what motivates people in your organisation

Step 2 Build Consensus

• Enlist the support of your colleagues by setting up a Green Team • Build consensus by encouraging conversation and gaining senior management

support • Review existing resources and understand how these can help you build

consensus and obtain support Step 3 Be honest

• Set realistic goals and objectives • Prioritise actions • Allocate a budget for your sustainability efforts

Step 4 Ramp up and go

• Implement your action plan in stages • Use existing resources to communicate your sustainability messages • Integrate into your organisation’s policies and programs

Step 5 Review and consider

• Review and evaluate your sustainability program and initiatives • Do the initiatives make sense, did they work, were they cost effective? • Use the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle of continuous improvement

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3. WHAT RESOURCES EXIST TO HELP US? Significant work has been undertaken within the Aged Care sector in NSW to advance environmental sustainability outcomes. A number of aged care specific education tools have been developed with funding from the NSW Environmental Trust as part of an education grant provided to Uniting Care Ageing in 2009. These tools were used by Uniting Care Ageing to increase the understanding among management and staff of the importance of sustainability and the role they can play in helping their organisation become more sustainable. The resources are available for use by other aged-care organisations and include:

• Sustainability DVD • E-Learning Tool • Posters • Sustainability Flyers • Sustainability Brochure

These and other valuable tools and resources are available through the Aged and Community Services Association of NSW and ACT website http://www.acs.asn.au More information is included in Step 4.2 on page 25 of this Guideline. While you are encouraged to adapt and use the range of tools on offer, it is important that you do so as part of an integrated and well-planned environmental sustainability project. Through the Sustainability Advantage program an Aged Care cluster of some 20 aged care providers with multiple facilities has been active in implementing environmental sustainability initiatives with some excellent resource efficiency, supply chain and staff engagement outcomes. More information on the Sustainability Advantage program along with sector-specific case studies is available at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/sustainbus/sustainabilityadvantage.htm.

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Energy efficient residential aged-care facilities must balance two very high priorities – the comfort of their residents and cutting energy costs. As part of the NSW Government’s Energy Saver program an Energy Saver Aged-care Toolkit was published in 2012. This toolkit gives energy efficiency information specifically about the operations of residential aged-care facilities and includes an energy efficiency checklist. The Toolkit allows facility and maintenance managers to inspect their sites and identify energy efficiency projects, costs and savings. The resource is available at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/sustainbus/esagedcare.htm

The Aged Care Resource Data Management Tool was also developed as part of the Sustainability Advantage Program. This excellent tool will help facility managers in the aged care sector to benchmark, monitor and manage their resource use, including energy, water, waste and fuel. The tool is available through the Aged and Community Services Association of NSW and ACT website. A log on is required: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/business/aged-care.htm By following the steps below you will more effectively be able to use the existing education tools developed by Uniting Care Ageing and in so doing achieve integrated and long-lasting sustainability outcomes. The tools are designed to inform, educate and inspire your people to make real change. We hope you put them to good use and enjoy your sustainability journey!

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4. STEP 1: GET READY

UNDERSTAND NOW Do you know you baseline resource use (energy,

water, waste, carbon?)

Does someone monitor and record consumption of resources?

Does someone monitor and record waste

generated, recycled, disposed?

Do you use a tracking spreadsheet?

UNDERSTAND WHY

Do you understand what your sector or organisation’s sustainability drivers are?

Do you know what motivates individual staff and

managers about sustainability?

UNDERSTAND WHAT

Do you know your sustainability priorities?

Do you know how staff behaviour or physical layout affects resource use or waste generation?

Do you have lots of ideas for ways to generate

improvements in environmental performance and resource efficiency?

NO

YES

YES

NO

NO

Go to Step 1.1 on

page 10

Go to Step 1.2 on

page 11

Go to Step 1.3 on

page 12

YES Well done.

There may be more to learn - go to Step 2 on

page 15

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STEP 1.1: Set a performance baseline Environmental sustainability planning cannot begin in your organisation until you have a true understanding of your resource and energy use. It is not until you establish a baseline of water and energy use, waste generation and consumables that you can begin to change it. Through reviewing invoices, electricity, gas and water bills you start to get a good understanding of your consumption activities. Logging this data will help you track performance improvements and communicate results to management and staff. A number of tools exist to help businesses improve environmental sustainability outcomes. These tools can provide insight into resource use, benchmark performance against other aged care facilities, generate goals and action plans, and help reduce emissions and waste throughout facility operations and supply chains. Ideally you will want to assign responsibility for inputting your data into a tracking tool. Consider who should perform this task – does it rest with your accounts/finance team, facilities manager or a resource manager? You will need to ensure that your data is accurate, fit for purpose, accessible, timely and reliable.

You may wish to benchmark your performance against other aged-care facilities. Input your site information and consumption data into the Aged-care Resource Data Management Tool, available online at http://www.acs.asn.au

Review Step 4.2 for other great tools available to the aged care sector.

Resources Aged-care Energy Saver Toolkit http://www.environment.nsw. gov.au/business/aged-care.htm Aged-care energy efficiency checklist http://www.environment.nsw. gov.au/resources/business/Age dcareEnergyChecklist.pdf One Simple Act for Work - Greening your Organisation http://www.onesimpleact.alber ta.ca/docs/greenorg.pdf

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STEP 1.2: Hold Exploratory Conversations Motivation starts with discussions in which people feel they are genuinely contributing to decisions. Contributing ideas leaves people feeling empowered and less afraid of change. Holding meaningful conversations allows you to identify the drivers and barriers your colleagues, managers and residents may have when it comes to being involved in sustainability initiatives. It’s relatively easy to facilitate a conversation about environmental sustainability – be that one-on-one, a small group or as part of a larger group meeting – as most people in your organisation will have some knowledge of issues such as water consumption, energy efficiency or waste and recycling. Exploratory conversation are just that – conversations to help you explore what people are passionate about, what they would like to change and how they feel they could contribute to that change. You may want to spark conversations by showing the sustainability DVD developed by Uniting Care Ageing, or using the e-Learning Tool in a creative and engaging way. See page 25 for more information on these tools. Here’s three steps to think about when facilitating an exploratory conversation:

1. Inspiration – give people something to spark their imaginations

2. Questioning – ask questions that spark a positive conversation about action

3. Planning – deciding on the “first next steps” towards action

When engaging a person or a group in an exploratory conversation, pose three kinds of questions. Note that these questions should be very personal – you want to get people talking about their own experiences and ideas:

1. A heart question

2. A head question

3. A hands question

Action begins with people’s passions, so the first question should find out what people feel strongly about.

This gets people thinking practically about what could solve the problem.

The third question asks people to imagine themselves being part of the solution.

“What is your biggest concern with waste in the workplace? What environmental issues do you think we need to manage better at our facility?

“What actions do you think could make a difference?”

“What could you/we do?”

By holding a number of these conversations and documenting the outcomes, you will very quickly identify what people are passionate about. More importantly, you will generate a list of actions for change and even identify people who are keen to make them happen. Make sure you talk to a cross-section of people including cleaners, kitchen staff, facilities staff, nursing staff, activities coordinators, residents, care staff and managers.

Give people something positive and inspiring to talk about. The inspiration could come from an inspired person, a news story, the e-Learning Tool for the aged care sector, a talk by an expert guest speaker, a tour of a similar aged care facility or a demonstration using sustainable technologies or methods.

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STEP 1.3: Identify sustainability priorities As discussed in Step 1.2, motivation to make change starts with discussions in which people feel they are genuinely contributing to decisions. When engaging others in your organisation in environmental sustainability and resource efficiency initiatives you want to start by giving them something to spark their imagination and then ask questions that stimulate positive conversations about certain key action. Reviewing the outcomes of your conversations will enable you to document the issues and actions in an action plan (see action plan framework below). You may also identify priorities by referring back to your baseline data:

• Are there areas where you are using more energy or water, or generating more waste?

• Is there a specific waste stream that you could target that would reduce waste to landfill and save you money?

• Does your organisation’s strategic plan include any environmental sustainability or resource efficiency priorities?

• Where are your environmental risks and how might you better manage these?

A great way to obtain an overview of resource use and wastage across your organisation is to conduct a facility walk- through. You may wish to use a simple checklist to review issues like waste generation, bin placement, recycling facilities, lighting, heating and cooling, water use, landscaping, composting and so on. An Energy Efficiency Checklist has already been developed for the aged-care sector and is a great starting point for your facility walk-through. You can add your own topics into this checklist so it includes all the sustainability issues relevant and important to your organisation. It is always best to conduct these walk-through inspections with a group of people so issues can be discussed along the way.

An important part of the walk-through will also be to observe and document people’s behaviour and related processes. Are people turning lights off when they leave the room, do administrative staff print and photocopy on both sides of the paper, are we buying recycled and recyclable materials where possible, do people make use of recycling bins where we have them placed, are our residents leaving food waste on their plates and is this because the serving sizes are

too big, are we turning the air conditioners on automatically or can we open windows?

Other Resources Department of Environment and Heritage Protection QLD – Eco-efficiency tips for residential aged care facilities http://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/sus tainability/sector-guides/aged- care/index.html Aged-care energy efficiency checklist http://www.environment.nsw. gov.au/resources/business/Age dcareEnergyChecklist.pdf One Simple Act for Work - Greening your Organisation http://www.onesimpleact.alber ta.ca/docs/greenorg.pdf

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There are a number of great resources available online to help you identify your environmental sustainability priorities and develop ideas on how to manage them. The Queensland Government’s site on eco-efficiency in residential aged care facilities provides lots of advice and case studies on energy, water and waste management, as well as chemical use (see the link in the box above). The “One Simple Act for Work” guideline also provides advice and worksheets to assist with prioritizing environmental sustainability initiatives. When working with a team of people to develop your action plan, you may first want to review the Sustainability DVD and brochure developed as part of the Environmental Trust funded project undertaken by Uniting Care Ageing. The brochure and DVD will provide ideas on what can be done and more importantly, how other organisations are achieving environmental sustainability and resource efficiency outcomes. See Step 4.2 on page 25 for more information on these educational tools. To begin creating your action plan, start by considering the roles and responsibilities associated with the plan. Who will do what, and by when?

• Who will be impacted by the plan – management, staff, residents, stakeholders? • Who will approve the plan? • Who will be responsible for reviewing and monitoring the plan? • Who will be the "owner" of the plan? Do they have the authority to

sufficiently advocate for the plan and all necessary resources? • Who should be involved in the actual creation of the plan? What is the

skill sets needed or experience of team members (i.e., subject matter experts, planning expertise, budget oversight, etc.)?

Consider what strategies will be used to achieve the goals and objectives, as well as the resources (including staff, budget, equipment, and technical assistance) needed to carry out the plan. Think about the criteria that will be used to judge the effectiveness of the plan. How will you measure progress toward your goal? How will you ensure accountability? As your team moves from creating the plan to implementing activities, it is important to communicate the plan to staff at all levels in the organisation. Communicating the goal(s) and objective(s), timeframes, expectations, and roles and responsibilities within the organisation creates clarity among staff, and focuses efforts toward the common aim of operating more efficiently. Launching the plan provides a starting point for the activities, and offers the opportunity to engage staff in the process and clarify expectations. Encouraging staff to ask questions, offer suggestions, and participate in discussions about the plan creates support for the plan.

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Our Environmental Sustainability Action Plan # Sustainability

Issue Objective Target Action Item(s) Tools and Resources Due

Date Responsibilities KPIs

#1 Water Wastage Reduce water wastage caused by dripping taps

10% reduction in water use by July 2015

Conduct audit of all taps and fix leaking taps Educate staff and residents about dripping taps Develop ”Don’t be a Drip” Program and align to “Managing Sustainability Just makes Sense” resources developed for the aged care sector Show DVD at staff meeting and discuss the water saving initiatives of other facilities

Leaking Tap Sustainability Poster

Sustainable Living DVD for Aged Care sector OEH Tip Sheets

July 2014 Facilities Manager

Audit results Number of taps fixed Number of staff attending information sessions

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5. STEP 2: BUILD CONSENSUS

WHO ARE YOUR CHAMPIONS?

Do you know who your sustainability champions are?

Have you established a Green Team?

FORMALISE YOUR TEAM

Does you Green Team have a Mandate?

Do you have senior management support?

Have you allocated a budget for your Green Team?

NO

YES

NO

Go to Step 2.1 on

page 16

Go to Step 2.2 on

page 18

YES Well done.

There may be more to learn - go to Step 3 on

page 19

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STEP 2.1: Identify champions and establish a Green Team Before establishing your Green Team you should have an idea of what issues you want the team to work on and what your environmental sustainability or resource efficiency priorities might be. Refer to the previous steps to review action plans if you have not yet identified your priorities. A great way to engage people is to ask them to tell their story of why they are (or want to be) a sustainability champion. Ask them to outline what they do at home, at work, in the community to reduce their own footprint and contribute in a positive way at work or in the community generally. Publicise these stories in your newsletter, web site or other promotional material. You will be surprised at how much conversation this sparks and how quickly other people become involved in sharing their stories as well. You may wish to engage your residents in this process as well – many of them were conservationists long before us!

Setting up a Green Team for your organisation provides an opportunity for your sustainability champions to get together on a regular

basis in a more formalised manner to discuss sustainability issues, ideas and actions. Your team should where possible, consist of employees who represent a cross-section of your organisation – including senior management, nursing staff, administrative staff, cleaners, facility managers and activities coordinators. Ideally you want your team to be small enough to be effective but broad enough to capture a full range of ideas and perspectives. Check out the table on the next page to see

who might be included in your organisation’s Green Team. You may also wish to use the “One Simple Act for Work” Guide’s worksheet on selecting Green Team members: http://www.onesimpleact.alberta.ca/docs/greenorg.pdf The NSW OEH also has a tip-sheet on setting up a Green Team which will be available on the OEH website http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/business/ Your Green Team should be strategic and be responsible for reviewing and implementing your organisation’s action plan, communicating with all stakeholders, preparing the business

case and obtaining funding for various sustainability initiatives. The Green Team could also be involved in issuing awards to staff or residents they see “doing the green thing”. The “Caught you Green Handed” sticker provides a great example of this and variations have

Other Resources Sustainable Business Toolkit – How to Set Up a Green Team http://www.sustainablebusines stoolkit.com/green-team- setup/ GreenBiz How to Build a Green Team: The First Step to Sustainability http://www.greenbiz.com/new s/2009/05/05/how-build-green- team-first-step-sustainability One Simple Act for Work - Greening your Organisation http://www.onesimpleact.alber ta.ca/docs/greenorg.pdf

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been used across a number of organisations (see for example: http://www.queensu.ca/sustainability/news/2012archives/greenhanded.html). The link to the sticker jpg file is http://sustainability.psu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/40_Green-Handed.jpg Review Step 4.2 for other great educational tools available to the aged care sector. Who should join the Green Team? Position Role What they can offer the Green Team

Properties / facilities managers

Control electricity, water and energy budgets

These people know the ins and outs of your operations and have a wealth of knowledge and ideas about cost saving and environmental sustainability initiatives. In NSW there is currently a monthly Regional Properties Managers meeting which could be an ideal way to share sustainability ideas more broadly.

Care staff Care for residents, use water and electricity, help in managing wastes

Care staff are the “life blood” of your aged-care facility and need to have an awareness of environmental sustainability programs and processes (eg waste management, water use, energy use.). They can be the link between your programs and the residents and broader community and provide ideas for streamlining operations and processes.

Kitchen staff Catering services and waste management

Kitchen staff are critical to achieving better outcomes in relation to waste, water and electricity use and should be part of your Green Team. They will be able to provide hands-on ideas for sustainability programs – from sustainable purchasing to waste reduction, source separation and composting opportunities.

Cleaning staff Waste management, chemical use and management

Cleaning staff are instrumental in achieving environmental sustainability outcomes, particularly in relation to waste separation and the use of environmentally sensitive cleaning products.

Activities staff Resident programs and engagement

Including activities staff in your Green Team provides the potential for better engagement of residents, particularly around national programs such as Earth Hour, World Environment Day, National Recycling Week and Water Week.

Back of house staff Laundry services, waste management, contractors

A representative from these areas is essential to ensure your front-of-house efforts result in measurable outcomes at the back end. This is particularly the case for waste management.

Management Action Plan approval, budgets and overall strategy

The most successful Green Teams are those that have senior management support. This is important to ensure your team has the resources it needs to be successful.

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STEP 2.2: Prepare a Mandate for the Green Team Defining a clear mandate (or Terms of Reference), approved by management, is essential for your Green Team to function smoothly. The mandate of the Green Team is primarily to provide a space that is favourable to sharing ideas, experiences, and cooperative actions regarding promotion of environmentally responsible behaviour in the workplace. You may want to develop a mission statement to help the team stay focused and also outline specific roles and responsibilities for each team member. It is also important to determine a regular schedule for team meetings – how often will the team meet and how long will the meetings go for? The mandate should document how much ‘work’ time team members can devote to the Green Team so everyone is clear on this right from the outset and should provide an overview of the goals or responsibilities of the team.

SAMPLE GREEN TEAM MANDATE Purpose: The organisation wishes to encourage others by example. A Green Team was established to provide advice on sustainability issues with respect to our operations and to encourage ‘grass roots’ sustainability programs in the workplace with the goal of protecting and enhancing the environment now and into the future. Responsibilities:  To reduce the negative environmental impact of the organisation’s activities and to extend this

influence beyond the workplace where possible  To ensure the implementation of the organisation’s sustainability policy  To prepare and implement the environmental sustainability action plan  Provide a forum for staff to exchange ideas and best management practices  To increase staff and resident awareness of environmental sustainability and resource

efficiency issues and opportunities and encourage them to become actively involved in organisational initiatives

 To provide sustainability leadership and support by being role models in the workplace  To help role out / promote sustainability tools and resources such as this educational toolkit

etc Meetings and Reporting: The Green Team will meet monthly for one hour at a time convenient to members and will submit a quarterly report to the CEO. The report will include the status of current initiatives and proposals for new initiatives and policies. Team Membership: Team membership is voluntary and will ideally consist of a broad cross-section of representatives. Membership is limited to 15 people. The Team Leader will be selected by the team and will be rotated every six months. Membership may be renewed annually. (Note: Individual team member roles may also be outlined). Administrative and Budgetary Support: Administrative and budgetary support will be provided by the CEO and will be outlined in the Annual Strategic Plan.

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6. STEP 3: BE HONEST

GOALS & OBJECTIVES Do you know your baseline resource use (energy,

Have you set realistic goals and objectives?

Are they SMART goals and objectives?

INTEGRATE

Have you integrated sustainability into corporate policies and plans?

Have you established Key Performance Indicators

(KPIs) for you environmental sustainability initiatives?

NO

YES

NO

Go to Step 3.1 on

page 20

Go to Step 3.2 on

page 22

YES Well done.

There may be more to learn - go to Step 4 on

page 23

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STEP 3.1: Setting realistic goals and objectives One of the keys to the success for your environmental sustainability program is effective goal setting and documentation of your objectives. Be clear on the outcome you want to achieve. The more defined your overall vision, the easier it will be to set goals and objectives. One of the key principles of effective goal setting is that your goals must be S.M.A.R.T. goals. S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym for the five qualities of an effective goal - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based. If you ensure that you set S.M.A.R.T. goals it will enable you to devise specific steps for the achievement of those goals.

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

Who: Who is involved?

What: What do we want to accomplish?

Where: Identify a location.

When: Establish a time frame.

Which: Identify requirements and constraints.

Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal

EXAMPLE: A general goal would be, “Reduce waste.” But a specific goal would say, “Reduce kitchen waste sent to landfill by 50% by 2015 at 10 facilities.”

Keeping your goals specific allows you to focus on one change at a time.

Measurable: Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.

When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continue the effort required to reach your goal.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as:

How much? How many? Can I count it or observe it?

How will I know when it is accomplished?

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Achievable: When you identify environmental sustainability goals that are most important to your organisation, you begin to figure out ways you can make them happen. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring your organisation closer to the achievement of your goals.

You can achieve your goals more easily when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Small steps will help you get there. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because your organisation and its people grow and expand to match them.

Realistic: To be realistic, a goal must represent a vision toward which you are willing and able to work. You must have the available resources, time and budget to help make your goal happen. You must be aware of acceptable payback periods for your organisation if the goal involves capital expenditure (eg a goal to ‘reduce carbon emissions by 10% by 2015 by installing solar panels on 50% of roof space’).

Time-based: A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to reduce your waste, when do you want to reduce it by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by 30 June, or by June 2015”, then you have more purpose to begin working on the goal.

Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal. Benchmarking against similar organisations can also provide a ‘reality check”.

Remember goals can be:

Short term: one month to 12 month

Medium term: 12 month – 2 years

Long term: more than 2 years

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STEP 3.2: Integrate with corporate plans and business strategies An important aspect of developing your organisation’s environmental sustainability and resource efficiency goals, strategies, and actions is ensuring that they are aligned with the organisation’s existing business strategy. Done in this way, executives and senior management will recognise that the proposed sustainability initiatives will support and improve the organisation’s ability to meet its current goals and timeframes. Ideally, an organisation’s environmental sustainability initiatives should be its core business strategy; in reality however, it can often be treated as a distraction from core business and ‘sidelined’ while the more pressing business issues are dealt with. Hence it is extremely important that the environmental sustainability goals and actions are designed to satisfy the organisation’s short-term pressures and core business, while subtly taking the business in a more sustainable, innovative and exciting direction. You may wish to use the following checklist to determine how well you are integrating your environmental sustainability initiatives with your organisation’s core values:

Measure Yes/No

1 Are sustainability initiatives clearly aligned to achieving the organisation’s business vision and goals?

2 Has each level of the organisation had input into developing specific actions relevant to them and that are also aligned to delivering on the strategic objectives.

3 Do existing Key Performance Areas used to deliver on the organisation’s vision / goals cover environmental and social issues?

4 Has benchmarking of environmental sustainability initiatives in similar organisations been undertaken?

5 Has a gap analysis been undertaken (to look for the low hanging fruit to tackle first to increase support for developing our overall environmental sustainability strategy)?

6 Can performance data be readily collected against our goals and objectives?

7 Is a process to communicate/report progress in the business plan in place?

8 Have champions been identified for key environmental initiatives and is there a reward and recognition system in place?

9 Is management committed to providing appropriate resources (financial and non-financial)?

10 Has a review and alignment of policy and procedures been undertaken to support implementation of environmental sustainability and resource efficiency initiatives throughout all parts of the organisation.

Review Step 4.2 for educational tools available to the aged care sector. These can be valuable in helping you integrate with corporate programs and policies.

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7. STEP 4: RAMP UP AND GO

STAGED IMPLEMENTATION

Have you included implementation timeframes in your action plan?

Have you assigned responsibilities for each action?

EXISTING EDUCATION TOOLS

Have you reviewed existing sustainability tools and resources?

Have you linked these to your action plan and

sustainability initiatives?

IMPLEMENT

Start implementing your action plan or revise and refresh it

Remember to engage your staff, managers,

contractors, residents

Celebrate small wins and communicate outcomes along the way

NO

YES

YES

NO

Go to Step 4.1 on

page 24

Go to Step 4.2 on

page 25

Well done. There may be

more to learn - go to Step 5 on

page 31

And don’t forget to check out

some great tools!

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STEP 4.1: Staged implementation

Action plans create accountability for performance improvement efforts. The plan is a tool your team can use to clearly define the "what", "when", "where," and "how" of your sustainability efforts as well as to monitor progress. Once you have the plan, it’s time to get everyone participating in completing the activities. Engagement or the art of bringing people together is vital for implementing your plan. When people are engaged, they take personal responsibility for the activity and with the focus on performance improvement linked to corporate strategic objectives, staff and management will look at the activities not just as something to tick off the list, but something that needs to ‘value add’ and be integrated into core business processes.

It takes having a plan and an engaged workforce for sustainability outcomes to happen. The first engagement occurs with the communication of the draft plan to the person or persons that will give the go ahead. When the starting point is clearly documented the stage is set for communications and expectations. Through your Exploratory Conversations (see Step 1.2) you have invited people to personally engage and be part of something new and exciting. For your environmental sustainability conversations to have meaning they need to help employees feel connected. Here are some ground rules to stimulate additional conversations to help maintain connection as you move into the implementation phase.  Find some way of talking

about how individuals feel about what is being proposed. Not how they evaluate it, but what feelings it generates. The intent is to surface doubts and reservations without reinforcing the helplessness. You may wish to ask people to review some of the existing resources included in Step 4.2 and ask them what feelings these resources generate and where they could add value.

 Be careful about discussing history. The tendency is to begin with an analysis of what got us here. This could reinforce negative thoughts about previous sustainability initiatives or other engagement programs. Use the Sustainability DVD (see Step 4.2) to facilitate discussions about potential future programs and engage your employees in brainstorming sessions.

People choose to commit based on emotion, feelings, intuition, trust and hope. A core strategy for building emotional commitment to implementation is to design new ways for people to engage with each other. It is this one-on-one engagement that becomes the energy that will fuel your plan of action.

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STEP 4.2: Make use of existing educational tools Now that you have your action plan in place and know how and when you want to implement certain initiatives, you should assess the tools available to you. This guideline is designed to assist you in the effective use of these tools. There is no point in “reinventing the wheel” given that a range of high quality and sector-appropriate tools already exist to facilitate your sustainability journey. It is important, however that you use them as part of an integrated strategy or plan, rather than as stand-alone initiatives to “sell” the message of environmental sustainability. The following educational tools have been developed with funding from the Environmental Trust and are available on the Aged and Community Services (NSW and ACT) website http://www.acs.asn.au. Note that the interactive eLearning Tool is available separately from the ACS. The Tools and Resources Matrix included in this Guide (see Page 29) aims to assist with decision-making around how, why and when to use these specific tools and resources. Sustainability DVD: The 12-minute DVD is focused on what can be achieved in the aged care sector and uses sector-specific visuals and case studies. The DVD is targeted at managers, staff and residents and includes interviews with senior managers, facilities managers, administrative and laundry staff and independent-living residents. eLearning Tool: This interactive tool was developed as a training tool and should ideally form part of your staff induction or other formal training processes. The tool is fun to use, however does not currently contain any competency based questions or quizzes. These could be included separately to reflect your own organisation’s priorities. Ensure that senior management support is obtained and realistic timeframes are established to enable the incorporation of sustainability training into your organisation’s existing training programs. The E-learning tool was produced using "ADOBE Captivate 5.5” and may be modified and customised to your own organisation's requirements. It can be published in SCORM format into a Learning Management System or used as a free standing program.

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DL Brochure – Our Organisation and Sustainable Management: This brochure has been designed to introduce the concept of sustainability to staff, managers, residents and other stakeholders. It highlights the reasons for managing your aged-care facility sustainably and discusses the concept of the “triple bottom line” approach to assessing the economic, social and environmental costs and benefits of proposed activities. The generic brochure allows you to include examples of sustainability initiatives you have already implemented at your facility and provides further ideas to help staff and the wider community implement sustainability actions themselves. Sustainability Posters – Managing Sustainability Just Makes Sense: These “call to action” posters address three different issues – leaking taps, turning off computers and recycling office paper. Each poster provides statistics related to the issue and a call to action, along with contact details for people wanting further information. They would ideally be used in conjunction with programs targeting these topics, rather than as stand-alone behaviour change tools. The posters can be tailored to your organisation by adding site-specific statistics and organisational logos.

When you access the posters and brochures from the ACS website http://www.acs.asn.au you can type in your organisation’s name and contact details as well as examples of the sustainability initiatives you are involved in and then save the resource as pdf on your system. It’s that easy!

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Additional Resources Energy Saver Aged-Care Toolkit: Published by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage in 2012, this Toolkit is designed to help your organisation understand the drivers of energy use at aged-care facilities, recognise seasonal and daily energy usage cycles, identify key areas for improvement, identify energy efficiency technologies that are appropriate to aged- care facilities and understand how much energy-saving initiatives cost and their likely return on investment. An energy efficiency checklist has also been included in the Toolkit and provides a quick guide to carry out your own site inspection and focus on the key areas where energy can be saved. You can access the Toolkit here: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/business/aged-care.htm

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Sustainability Tip Sheets: A range of Sustainability Tip Sheets have been published by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and while these tip sheets are not specific to the aged-care sector, they provide a range of actions and advice for improving organisational sustainability outcomes. The tip sheets include bathroom tips, heating and cooling tips, lighting tips, lunch room tips, office equipment tips, paper, printing and copying tips, waste and recycling tips as well as tips on setting up effective Green Teams. The tip sheets should be used to generate ideas among Green Team members, or as a tool to promote Exploratory Conversation among staff, management, residents and other stakeholders. Tip Sheets will be available on the Office of Environment and Heritage website: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/business/

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A Matrix of Tools and Resources This matrix is designed to help you decide on which tools you can use to achieve your sustainability outcomes. Opportunities Tools and Resources Staff Training General

Awareness Exploratory Conversations

Topic Specific Reinforcement

Behaviour Change

Physical and Operational Change

Sustainability DVD

Use in formal staff training sessions and discuss issues raised in relation to your own facility

Could be used for general awareness if played on continual loop in foyer area or made available on website

Can stimulate exploratory conversations particularly if targeted to one specific issue raised in the video

The DVD is very general and doesn’t provide details on specific topics

No call to action cues in video therefore probably wouldn’t lead to behaviour change

Potential to start conversations among facility and property managers based on case studies presented

eLearning Tool

Include in induction training or other formal (structured) training programs. Suggest inclusion of some quiz or competency based questions

May be a bit long to use in a general awareness session

Can stimulate exploratory conversations particularly if targeted to specific issues

The tool is very general and doesn’t provide details on specific topics

No call to action cues in the tool therefore probably wouldn’t lead to behaviour change

May lead to ideas among staff if linked to other training or staff consultation processes

DL Brochure

A very general overview of sustainability only

A great tool to communicate your organisation’s sustainability position – particularly to external stakeholders

Can stimulate exploratory conversations around actions that could be taken

The brochure is very general and doesn’t provide details on specific topics

Actions on the back page of the brochure may encourage behaviour change, however should be integrated into other programs

Potential to start conversations among facility and property managers based on case studies presented

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Opportunities Tools and Resources Staff Training General

Awareness Exploratory Conversations

Topic Specific Reinforcement

Behaviour Change

Physical and Operational Change

Sustainability Posters

The posters provide good reinforcement for topics addressed in more detail in structured training sessions

A good supporting tool for raising general awareness of the issues addressed in the posters

An excellent tool to use when stimulating Exploratory Conversations

The posters address specific issues, however do not provide sufficient information to gain detailed understanding

A good tool to encourage behaviour change with direct “call to action” messages

Would not provide value when discussing physical or operational changes

Aged-care Energy Saver Toolkit

Elements of this Toolkit could be converted to an eLearning course to engage facilities staff

This Toolkit may be too detailed to be used for general awareness. Case studies from the Guideline could be used for awareness raising among staff and stakeholders

The Toolkit could provide a starting point to initiate Exploratory Conversations with facilities managers or operational staff.

An excellent tool to educate on energy management principles and opportunities within the aged-care sector

The Toolkit provides essentially technical information but includes dome behaviour change cues

A valuable tool for facilities managers to focus on energy management and efficiency opportunities

Sustainability Tip Sheets

Could be used in staff meetings to review certain issues or areas of interest

Provide an excellent resource to raise general awareness among staff, residents and stakeholders

Tip sheets are a great resource for stimulating Exploratory Conversations

Tip sheets address specific topics and include simple (non technical) advice

A good tool to encourage behaviour change with direct “call to action” messages

Potential to start conversations among facility and property managers

Aged Care Resource Data Management (Benchmarking) Tool

Could be demonstrated in staff meetings, however more formal training may be required

Graphs and data generated from tool can be used for general awareness raising

Could form the basis of conversation around tracking data and comparisons with other like facilities

Can choose to reinforce specific topics (eg energy efficiency, waste reduction) with graphs etc

A good tool to demonstrate outcomes to staff and management

Provides tracking data to reinforce benefits of operational changes

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8. STEP 5: REVIEW AND CONSIDER

WHAT DID YOU ACHIEVE?

Do you have an evaluation plan?

Have you set realistic targets?

Can you easily assess the appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of your sustainability

initiatives?

PLAN DO CHECK ACT

Do you follow the Plan, Do Check, Act cycle of continuous improvement?

CONGRATULATIONS!

You are in your way to achieving real sustainability change in your organisation.

Keep up the great work.



NO

YES

YES

NO

Go to Step 5.1 on

page 32

Go to Step 5.2 on

page 34

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STEP 5.1: Developing an evaluation framework

Because your action plan is a "living" document expect to update and revise your plan regularly. This helps people stay connected with what is happening with the activities and actions and whether actions are completed, progressing toward completion, delayed, or no longer viable. Documenting these status updates allows for more efficient review and monitoring of the plan.

Consider the time span of your action plan -- it may cover several weeks, months, or even years. During this overall time span, new timeframes and deadlines, new activities, and even new priorities will impact the plan and adjustments will need to be made. Document changes to the plan accordingly, communicate the changes, and continue to monitor progress toward completion.

Evaluation is a systematic process of reviewing data to assess the value or worth of something. Through evaluation, it will become clear whether or not you are making progress toward achieving the plan's goal(s). Evaluation results validate or invalidate the effectiveness of the activities and actions within your plan. It is important to build evaluation indicators, including the necessary data collection schedule, into your action plan as it is being created. Knowing ahead of time what you want to measure will help determine how to collect the supporting data. Once the data is collected and analysed, you should also communicate it to other staff, residents and stakeholders. Using graphs and charts to display data helps to better communicate with your team and shows a visual representation of the data. If reviewing evaluation data validates that the intended outcomes were achieved, the next step is ensuring continuous progress by standardising the processes that support the activities implemented in the plan. If reviewing evaluation data indicates that the intended expectations were not met, you may need to revise the actions included in the plan, make the necessary revisions, implement the revised activities or actions, and re-evaluate progress to see if the revisions are creating the desired outcomes. Don't forget to document lessons learned to avoid making the same mistake - or mistakes - twice. You should also consider evaluating the effectiveness of the tools you have used to communicate your messages –did people notice the posters etc, did the resources you used encourage behaviour change? Staff and resident surveys can help you evaluate the effectiveness of the resources and allows you to further engage with your target group.

Communicating evaluation results allows others to help you celebrate successes and share lessons learned. The monitoring and evaluation plan framework over the page may be used as a guide to assist with your sustainability program evaluation:

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Monitoring and Evaluation Framework

Sustainability issue: Water Wastage

Objective Action(s) How will

progress be measured?

When will progress be measured?

What tools/resources are required to measure progress?

Who is responsible for measuring progress?

How will we communicate progress?

Action completion date(s)

Reduce water wastage caused by dripping taps

Conduct audit of all taps and fix

Scheduled implementation of audit and repair as part of maintenance schedule

Monthly facility review

Checklist of taps

Record of maintenance performed

Facilities Manager

Monthly reports to management

Charts documenting water savings

March 2014

Sustainable Living Resources effectively used to Communicate Message

Conduct pre- and post survey of staff and residents to evaluate effectiveness of resources

Number of residents responding positively about resources used

Pre and post “campaign”

Staff and resident survey

Manager Newsletter and face-to-face discussions

July 2014

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STEP 5.2: Defining the Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle The Plan Do Check Act (PDCA) cycle is a great tool to ensure that real sustainability outcomes are achieved. The PDCA cycle forces you to define measurable goals for your environmental sustainability project, put it into action, check if you achieved your goals and keep raising the bar. "Plan Do Check Act" makes you commit to an ongoing improvement process that will lead your organisation to high-quality sustainable results. Just as a circle has no end, the PDCA cycle should be repeated again and again to ensure continuous improvement. The four steps of the cycle can be applied to any sustainability project or action defined in your action plan. Let’s apply the PDCA cycle to an objective of reducing the energy use of your organisation.

PLAN

The Plan phase involved defining and analysing the problem, project or activity to be undertaken. The required changes to the system or operations are identified, realistic objectives are established for specified actions, and methods or tasks are confirmed through which the actions will be carried out. When thinking about reducing energy for example, define targets that you can measure, write them down, and assign responsibilities to the individual steps needed to achieve those targets.

In our example - a very basic approach:

• Target: reduce energy use across the facility by 10% in the next two years. • Timeline: when to do what so you don't lose track - set deadlines for tasks • Responsibilities:

Lisa from accounting: numbers and monitoring; Bill from facilities: organize energy audit; Sue from executive team: inform all managers of the Business Case and enlist their support Green Team: review actions, conduct Exploratory Conversations and harness ideas, use posters and flyers to promote messages (see Step 4.2). Ann from activities: inform residents and encourage involvement. Use existing resources outlined in Step 4.2.

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DO

The Do phase involves executing your plan. Have one person check on the status of the individual tasks. Collect data. Keep it up, stick to the timeline you set.

In our example: • Lisa from accounting to establish the baseline (current energy use) and monitor

monthly use over the next two years • Bill from facilities to get quotes for an energy auditor and organise the audit • Sue from executive team to inform managers about the goals and actions for

implementing energy-saving behavior and processes • Green Team: engage staff and

other stakeholders in new behaviours and inform them on "why we set this target and how we want to achieve it"

• Ann from activities to work with residents to implement ideas and use existing resources for communication (see Step 4.2)

• All (including the CEO) to evaluate audit outcomes.

CHECK

The Check phase involves monitoring or checking the implemented actions to see how effective they have been. Have the initiatives you put in place achieved the desired outcome? Have you reached that target in the set time? If you have: give yourself a pat on the back, and adjust the target for the next phase. If you haven't reached the target: why, and what exactly kept you from getting there?

In our example: • Target reached: Set the bar higher for the next year to save even more energy. Start

the next project, too. You could consider a waste reduction project for office paper, kitchen waste, medical waste etc.

• Target not reached: Say exactly what left the results below the set target. Why were not all results from energy audit put into practice? Why were the Green Team unable to convince all colleagues to turn the lights off behind them? What needs to be put in place to save that extra 5% of energy? Why was Ann not able to effectively engage all residents? Were the existing resources used effectively? What other resources are available to us?

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ACT

The Act phase involved making permanent those successful aspects or initiatives you have implemented. This may include developing operating procedures, staff work instructions or Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) to ensure the outcomes can be maintained in the long term. Where the Check phase indicates that the initiatives have not achieved their goal or outcomes, review these to learn about the causes and the effects they had. Work on what you defined as not successful. Amend your strategy, focus on weak links and continue the cycle.

In our example: • Apply for governmental grant to install LED lights, as was suggested by the energy

auditor. • Get help for Ann with motivating the residents. Is there an external speaker who can

help? • Work with the Green Team to identify staff barriers to turning off light. Use existing

resources outlined in Step 4.2 to help promote messages and encourage behaviour change.

Done?

Sorry, no such thing in the "Plan Do Check Act” cycle.

Celebrate your success, and then go back and keep tweaking it. Next goal: another 5% off your energy use?

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9. SUSTAINABILITY IN THE AGED-CARE SECTOR: CASE STUDIES

Holy Spirit aged care facility, Carseldine, Brisbane

With support and advice from the Waste Not Want Not Business Cluster, run by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection QLD, Holy Spirit targeted their waste and achieved a 10 per cent overall reduction in the volume of waste they generated.

The key focus of the cluster was to look for opportunities to avoid producing the waste in the first place. Areas targeted that achieved the greatest success were:

 buying patterns; understanding what is purchased and its function

 identifying alternative products or modifying a process to do without the product.

An education and training program to ensure all operational staff and residents are informed of new waste management processes and changes to service provision is the next step on their path to eco-efficiency.

Oak Towers aged care facility, Oakleigh, Victoria

With the support of Sustainability Victoria, Oak Towers decided to install an innovative laundry system in an effort to reduce their energy and water consumption and waste generation. They process 3,520 tonnes of textiles each week so improving their eco- efficiency was a significant step. This new system has achieved these approximate figures in annual improvements:

 490GJ of gas energy

 1,245kL of water

 850 litres of chemicals

 Over 680 hours in productivity improvement

 $30,700 in savings

 61 tonnes reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

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Prince Henry at Little Bay, Sydney, NSW

Working with an environmentally sustainable development consultant allowed these smart eco-efficient design elements to be built into this residential aged care facility:

 stormwater treatment that reduces solid particles by 90 per cent and nitrogen and phosphorus by 65 per cent

 60 per cent reduction in water through rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling

 solar power generation that reduces CO2 emissions by 85 tonnes a year

 recycling of demolition and construction waste

 adaptive reuse of heritage buildings. The case studies included above were sourced from the Queensland Government website: http://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/sustainability/sector-guides/aged-care/case-studies.html

Baptist Community Services NSW and ACT

Not-for-profit Christian care organisation Baptist Community Services NSW & ACT keeps social sustainability at the heart of its operation in helping some of our community’s most disadvantaged people. While financial viability is a hallmark for Baptist Community Services after 66 years continuous service, environmental sustainability is new territory.

As Baptist Community Services embarked on the most extensive building program in its history the organisation wanted to ensure that environmentally sustainable development became part of its future. The organisation has adopted the Sustainability Advantage Program to improve its sustainability performance in four main areas: resources, people, buildings, and supply chain.

While spreading the sustainability message among its employees and clients, it has:

 saved more than 92,000 megawatts of electricity last year

 implemented energy and water saving projects worth more than $330,000

 cut electricity consumption by five per cent at Kularoo Centre for Aged Care in Forster

 cut electricity consumption by four per cent at Warabrook Centre for Aged Care in Newcastle.

For the full case study go to: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/sustainabilityadvantage/csBaptistCommServices.htm

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St Andrews, Ballina St Andrews in Ballina is one of the many NSW organisations that are realising the benefits of being energy-wise. Following a subsidised audit, the not-for-profit aged care facility implemented 12 energy-saving initiatives that ranged from replacing inefficient light fittings to installing 10 kilowatt photo-voltaic solar panels that feed into the local electricity grid. The Board’s energy and environmental leadership inspired a conservation movement in the broader St Andrews community to install additional solar power. Results achieved included:

 Power consumption reduced by 10 per cent a year

 Annual reduction in carbon pollution of about 75 tonnes.

 Return on investment.

For the full case study go to: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/business/110807-cs-st-andrews.pdf

The case studies above were sourced from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage website http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/business/sustainability.htm

Goodwin, ACT

Canberra’s largest aged care and retirement living provider Goodwin which operates three sites in Canberra installed photovoltaic solar panels on 230 villas at its Monash site in 2011. The organisation invested $500,000 in the project but expects the investment to pay off substantially in the future with big decreases in power bills.

The decision to install the solar panels was taken jointly with residents of the independent living units at the site who had expressed concern about rising energy costs and their future ability to pay. The panels have resulted in significant decreases in electricity bills for residents.

A $25,000 grant from the ACT Government also enabled the organisation to install a 10kW system on the Monash Village clubhouse resulting in further savings.

Goodwin’s commitment to the environment also includes capturing and reusing all of the water runoff from the Monash site, delivering six star energy efficiency ratings on new villas and effective solar orientation on all of the buildings at the Monash site.

The case study above was sourced from the Australian Ageing Agenda website http://www.australianageingagenda.com.au/index.php?screen=tags&tag=sustainability&type=

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10. GLOSSARY OF TERMS

ACS - Aged and Community Services

OEH - Office of Environment and Heritage

P.D.C.A. – Plan, Do Check, Act. The cycle of continuous improvement

SA - Sustainability Advantage

S.M.A.R.T. - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based goals.