Starting up; early stages - Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment - page 93

vary, as we have noted elsewhere (see Chapters 1 and 8), but may involve major
expenditure for large projects. The time available may also vary; the average is 4-6
months, but it could be much longer for complex projects. National and international
quality assurance procedures (for example BS 5750/ ISO 9000) may also apply for the
activities of many companies.
In interdisciplinary team work, complementarity , comparability and co-ordination are
particularly important. Weaver et al. (1996) stress the importance of complementarity for
the technical skills needed to compete the task, and of personal skills for those in the core
management team. Fortlage and others stress that where there are various groups of
consultants, it is important that findings and data are co-ordinated (e.g. that they should
work to agreed map scales and to agreed chapter formats) and can be fed into a central
source. “This is one of the weakest aspects of most assessment teams; all consultants
must be aware, and stay aware of others' work in order to avoid lacunae, anomalies and
contradictions which will be the delight of opposing counsel and the media” (Fortlage
1990).
Of course, basic management skills—including team management and time
management—must not be overlooked. Cleland & Kerzner (1986) suggested the
following factors were important in the successful management of an interdisciplinary
team:
(a) a clear, concise statement of the mission or purpose of the team;
(b) a summary of the goals or milestones that the team is expected to accomplish in
planning and conducting the EIA;
(c) a meaningful identification of the major tasks required to accomplish the team's
purposes, with each task broken down by individual;
(d) a summary delineation of the strategy of the team relative to policies, programs,
procedures, plans, budgets, and other resource allocation methods required in the
conduct of the environmental impact study;
(e) a statement of the team's organizational design, with information included on the
roles and authority and responsibility of all members of the team, including the team
leader; and
(f) a clear delineation of the human and non-human resource support services available
for usage by the interdisciplinary team.
This should all be documented in a clear statement of the interdisciplinary team
approach in the EIS. This would indicate the specific roles of team members, and their
titles, qualifications and experience. The nature of liaison with other parties in the
process, including public and other meetings, should also be noted.
4.3 Project screening—is an EIA needed?
The number of projects that could be subject to EIA is potentially very large. Yet many
projects have no substantial or significant environmental impact. A screening mechanism
seeks to focus on those projects with potentially significant adverse environmental
impacts or whose impacts are not fully known. Those with few or no impacts are
“screened out” and allowed to proceed to the normal planning permission and