Why does the water industry need risk management?
A Parliamentry act, the Australian Drinking Water Guide Lines and the Food safety Code
The Parliament of Victoria passed an act (Act No 46/2003) 11/6/03 for safe drinking water.
The ACT can be accessed at the Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents site.
The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) suggests a 12 element frame work for management of drinking water quality. These elements include:
Element 1 Commitment to drinking water quality management
Element 2 Assessment of the drinking water supply system
Element 3 Preventative measures for drinking water quality management
Element 4 Operational procedures and process control
Element 5 Verification of drinking water quality
Element 6 Management of incidents and emergencies
Element 7 Employee awareness and training
Element 8 Community involvement and awareness
Element 9 Research and development
Element 10 Documentation and reporting
Element 11 Evaluation and audit
Element 12 Review and continual improvement
The Australian Government has recently introduced tough new food laws which dramatically increase the penalties for food borne illness related offense. (Up to $100,000 and or 2 years imprisonment for individuals and up to $500,000 for corporations (see reference 2). Food businesses are now seeking assurances from all raw material suppliers including water treatment facilities, that the raw materials which they supply, fully comply with the food standards code. Any breach of the code which results in food borne illness will result in identification of the cause and possible litigation for that part of the supply chain.
The food bill suggests that a documented food safety plan complying with the following standards can be used as evidence of due diligence (see reference 2 at the bottom of this page):
- Standard 3.2.1 Food Safety Programs
- Standard 3.2.2 Food Safety Practices and General Requirements
- Standard 3.2.3 Food Premises and Equipment.
(For more information on these standards, see Food Standards Australia and New Zealand)
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) is widely recognised as the world best practice technique in food safety plan development and has recently been the subject of a workshop held by the AWA in Melbourne.