Contaminated Site Assessment and Management Certification

The specialist CPSS certification in Contaminated Site Assessment and Management (CSAM) was developed in response to the requirements detailed in the National Environment Protection (Assessment of Site Contamination) Measure (NEPM) 1999 as amended in 2013. Schedule B9 of the NEPM lists the requirements environmental consultants need to demonstrate. The combination of CPSS and CSAM achieves these requirements.

For advice on soil science matters at contaminated sites, a CPSS should always be a member of the project team; a CPSS with CSAM certification will meet legal obligations but will also provide assurance to all project stakeholders (including regulators, clients, auditors and the community) that the soil science advice is of the highest quality.

Applicants for the specialist certification, CSAM, should read and/or complete:

• CPSS-CSAM Description of Competencies
• CPSS-CSAM Guidelines
• CPSS-CSAM Application Form
• CPSS-CSAM Ongoing Professional Development (OPD) Diary

Assessment of Applications (Impartial and confidential)

The CPSS Board understands the importance of impartiality in assessing applications, and it conducts assessments only against the relevant CSAM Standards shown in the Description of Competencies document. It also manages any conflicts of interest in assessing applications by preventing people that have a personal or pecuniary interest in a successful (or unsuccessful) outcome of an application from being involved in its assessment. The CPSS Board treats all applications as commercial-in-confidence material, such that only members of the Competency Assessment Panel having no conflict of interest can view an application. Furthermore, members of the Competency Assessment Panel are required to delete all documents received for assessment, so the only copy of materials held by Soil Science Australia lie with the CPSS Administrator. A formal statement to this effect is provided to applicants upon request.