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ENVIRONMENT

Environmental Compliance
and Approvals

Specialist Advice

Helia EHS provides specialist advice to our clients to meet their compliance obligations including EPA permits and environmental approvals to continue or commence (or sometimes continue) their operations. Helia EHS provides assessment and monitoring services, performance and process reviews and ongoing liaison with relevant Stakeholders and regulatory authorities.

Helia EHS is highly experienced in the environmental sector – successfully serving an array of clients from all over Australia. Along with our consultancy advice and management services, we provide quality customer service to our clients.
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Development Licences, Annual Performance Statements, Financial Assurances and Pollution Abatement Notices

Development licences (formerly ‘works approval’) are for the design, construction and modification stages of your building project. They protect the environment by enabling you to minimise risk, so far as reasonably practicable, before building starts.

When you need a development licence

Apply for a development licence if your industrial or waste management activity is high-risk and you are:

  • constructing or installing a plant, or equipment for a prescribed development activity
  • developing processes or systems for a prescribed development activity
  • modifying (except for general maintenance) plant, equipment, processes or systems for a prescribed development activity.


The legal basis of development licences are in section 44 of the Environment Protection Act 2017(the Act). Helia EHS will guide you through the development licence application process to satisfy the requirements for approval. We’ll also liaise with the EPA to facilitate the timely delivery of your development licence. Sometimes a development licence is not required; however evidence is still required to be sent to the EPA to confirm that a licence exemption for a development activity is being sought.

PIPS

Permissions Information and Performance Statements (PIPS) have replaced Annual Performance Statements (APSs). Businesses with a new or updated licence must provide a PIPS when requested by EPA. This condition will replace the previous APS reporting.Some permits will also have the PIPS reporting condition.

PIPS reporting program under development

Consult the EPA Victoria website on the PIPS reporting program. We can help with this process too.

Record keeping

Businesses holding EPA licences and permits must keep adequate records in line with record keeping licence conditions. Consult the EPA Victoria website for more information about record keeping and reporting requirements and/or Helia EHS can assist you in this area.

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The Environment Protection (Scheduled Premises) Regulations 2017 specify which scheduled activities must submit financial assurance.

These include premises licensed to conduct prescribed industrial waste management, landfills, bulk storage and container washing.

All sites that have a licence condition to maintain a financial assurance will be reviewed against the EPA.

Helia EHS assists EPA Licence holding clients. Financial assurance proposals should be prepared using the necessary EPA guidance documents and address certain components (at a minimum).

In the event of non-compliance, authorised officers have the power to issue a remedial notice or give a direction. Where businesses have not complied, authorised officers will collect evidence and prioritise enforcement action as per EPA’s compliance obligations.

We can assist with EPA liaison – including reporting requirements, EPA meetings, etc. – associated with remedial notices, directions and site management orders.

environmental compliance and approvals

The Importance of  Environmental
Permissions

Environmental permissions help manage potential environmental and human health impacts from a specific action or activity. Moreover, environmental permissions are important for a business to prevent violating any EPA compliance obligations. Some businesses display their permissions on a specific page on their website, making a public commitment or statement that they intend to comply with the EPA’s compliance obligations. During environmental permissions and assessments, the regulatory authorities look at how the development would positively and negatively affect the environment.
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These include EPA, local councils and other State government departments such as the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. These authorities also consider the vitality of the surrounding ecosystems and how the development might affect the aesthetic of the community as part of the overall environmental permissions.

How Environmental Risk Assessments Work

Environment risk assessments are required before environmental development licences or permissions are granted. Their role is to characterise the nature and magnitude of risks to human health and ecological receptors.  They’re typically based on the probability of hazards and risks being realised at the site. Risk management and communication are integral to developing a quality environmental management system – as well as procuring development licences (or permissions) where needed.
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Helia EHS takes an iterative approach to risk assessments to fill in data gaps. In some instances we’ll revise our scope to achieve a more refined assessment of the risk. This can make gaining development licences and permissions easier. We maintain constant EPA contact after application lodgement. Potential hazards can prevent development licences or permissions from processing successfully. You’ll find us experienced in developing risk assessments to obtain development licences or permissions covering  the following:

  • ● Air quality
  • ● Waste generation, storage and its reuses
  • ● Soil and water pollution

Helia EHS works through every part of an environmental development licence application to ensure your business or organisational environmental compliance needs are met. Call us on (03) 8625 9696.
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