Qualified Professional Audit

September 2018

The Qualified Professional Audit (the audit) set out to evaluate the use of Qualified Professionals in British Columbia’s mining and municipal wastewater sectors in order to determine if they are in compliance with current regulatory requirements.

Over a decade ago, the B.C. government implemented a professional reliance regulatory model in its natural resource sector. Under the professional reliance model, B.C. delegates responsibility for some aspects of its regulatory processes to registered Qualified Professionals employed by industry proponents (Office of the Ombudsperson 2014). Since the professional reliance model is variable across regulatory regimes, this audit specifically focuses on assessing compliance with Qualified Professional conditions in mining and municipal wastewater authorizations.

There are currently 120 mines and 377 wastewater treatment facilities authorized to operate in B.C. Mines and wastewater treatment facilities require authorizations to define the terms under which they may discharge waste to the environment. Through a random selection process, the audit assessed 25 mine authorizations and 72 wastewater treatment authorizations by means of desktop inspections to determine the level of compliance with Qualified Professional conditions.

Given the complexity of the professional reliance model in B.C., the audit takes a preliminary look into Qualified Professional compliance with current mining and municipal wastewater regulatory requirements.

Twenty-five mining authorizations were assessed for compliance with their Qualified Professional conditions; 80% were in compliance. The other 20% were out of compliance and were issued an Advisory for being of a minor administrative nature. 72 municipal wastewater authorizations were assessed for compliance with their Qualified Professional conditions; 47% were in compliance. The other 53% were out of compliance and were issued an Advisory for being of a minor administrative nature.

Recommendations

Given the results of the audit, the following recommendations have been made:

For the Mining and Municipal Wastewater Industries:

1. Ensure documents are being signed by the author who is the Qualified Professional of the document;
2. Where a report provides recommendations, a professional opinion, or analysis of data, have the Qualified Professional sign and seal the report prior to submitting it to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy;
3. Periodically conduct background checks on Qualified Professionals to ensure that they are in good standing with their professional organization or association; and
4. If applicable, ensure that the Environmental Operators Certification Program training requirements are met each year. This recommendation is specific to the municipal wastewater industry.

Compliance Promotion and Additional Audit

5. Promote the existing information for industry and professional associations/organizations outlining the government’s expectations of Qualified Professionals;
6. Provide an information package to industry representatives with information on how they can stay in compliance with their Qualified Professional conditions; and
7. Conduct additional audits of Qualified Professionals. Suggestions for future audits:
   1. Assess Qualified Professionals to determine if they are qualified to work on the projects that they are signing off on (i.e. if they are working within their area(s) of expertise);
   2. Evaluate and provide recommendation on the auditing practices of professional associations/organizations in B.C.;
   3. Determine the number of out of province Qualified Professionals that are working in B.C. and assess whether these Qualified Professionals are qualified to conduct work in B.C.; and
   4. Audit Qualified Professionals conducting environmental activities in other sectors regulated by the Environmental Management Act (EMA) or the Integrated Pest Management Act (IPMA).