SOBRA assessment
The Society of Brownfield Risk Assessment has developed a new accreditation scheme, writes Adler deWind.
The Society of Brownfield Risk Assessment (SoBRA), established in 2009 to support professionals working in land contamination risk assessment, has launched an accreditation scheme to demonstrate competence as a land contamination risk assessor.
SoBRA describe this as a standalone scheme, and an opportunity for its members to demonstrate to a Suitably Qualified Person (SQP, under the Land Forum’s upcoming National Quality Mark Scheme) that they are competent to support the SQP in undertaking or reviewing the risk-assessment element of their project. This may be of interest to Fellows of the Geology Society working in land contamination, they believe.
Contamination
SoBRA is a learned society for individuals from private, public, voluntary and academic sectors. Its goals are to improve technical knowledge in risk-based decision-making related to land contamination applications and to enhance the professional status and profile of practitioners.
Risk assessment is a critical element in the evaluation of land affected by contamination, and provides the cornerstone for wider decision-making in land management. To date, there has been no single industry-wide scheme to demonstrate competence as a risk assessor. The SoBRA Register of Risk Assessors has been developed to fill this gap.
The SoBRA Register’s two grades of membership reflect an individual’s experience and skills. The entry level is ‘Registered Grade’; individuals who are capable of undertaking and/or reviewing routine generic quantitative risk assessments without supervision but who are likely to need some assistance or guidance in conducting more complex risk assessments.
The advanced entry will be the ‘Fully Accredited Member Grade’, for those with a thorough understanding of land contamination risk assessment, with experience of carrying out and/or reviewing more detailed and site specific risk assessments. On admission to the register, individuals will be permitted to use the post-nominal signature designations RSoBRA and ASoBRA.
If you are interested in being included on the SoBRA register, visit www.sobra.org.uk for full details on application requirements. You can also follow SoBRA on LinkedIn, for news on technical issues, workshops and updates.