Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288:reg:1850:p87
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 1850 (pt 87/117)
Character Range: 600352–603650

Department of Environment 1998

    15              Protection of the environment during site assessment

15.1          General considerations
Assessment of site contamination, or potential contamination, can present risks to the environment as well as to site personnel and local residents. This guidance provides the minimum measures that should be adopted to ensure protection of the environment during site assessment. Site-specific environmental management measures must ensure compliance with environmental management and protection legislation applying in each jurisdiction.

All states and territories have work health and safety legislative requirements. Plans developed under such legislation should address all relevant exposure pathways for site-specific contaminants of concern. Site assessment activities should comply with relevant work health and safety guidance and legislation applying in each jurisdiction.

    15.1.1      Core environmental protection elements
Environmental protection plans should address the following issues:
    * management of dust emissions and on-site and off-site odours
    * protection of groundwater resources
    * prevention of migration of contamination to adjacent sites or uncontaminated areas within the site
    * prevention of contaminated run-off water reaching stormwater systems or local surface water environments
    * prevention of initiation or spread of fire, either underground or above ground
    * collection and disposal of excavation spoil
    * collection and disposal of contaminated groundwater.

    15.1.2      Less obvious concerns
Less obvious assessment issues that need to be addressed include:
    * extending contamination or assisting contaminant migration during site investigation works by, for example, drilling through a contaminated aquifer into an uncontaminated lower aquifer thereby creating a conduit through which contamination may migrate
    * introducing contamination to an otherwise clean soil stratum by backfilling a test pit found to be contaminated at surface level but clean at depth using the contaminated soil. It is always preferable to temporarily stockpile test pit spoil in excavation sequence so that it may be returned to the pit to roughly the same depth from which it was excavated
    * initiating or extending underground fire by the introduction of oxygen
    * enhancing acid run-off by enabling oxidation of in situ materials through exposure to atmosphere
    * destabilising an otherwise stable embankment by introducing water.

15.2          Addressing environmental protection issues
The following elements of environmental protection should be considered prior to site assessment and be incorporated into the site assessment plan for each site. In particular, site contamination that is likely to cause public concern by the scale of operations, the nature of the site contamination or the potential for emission of noxious or offensive odours should indicate the commencement of public consultation and community engagement (refer Schedule B8) well before the commencement of site assessment works.

    15.2.1       Management of dust and offensive and noxious odours
Environmental concerns regularly encountered on site assessments are dust and odour emissions which may