Every licence issued by Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) requires the licence holder to have in place a risk management and monitoring program (RMMP) that enables the licence holder and EPA to determine compliance with the general environmental duty (GED). EPA expects licence holders to have a robust system in place to ensure their environmental performance is adequately assessed and demonstrated to comply with their licence and the GED.

The Environment Protection Act 2017 (the Act), came into effect on 1 July 2021. The act shifts the onus of environmental protection from a prohibitions and licence control model to a risk-based and duties framework. This framework is built on a GED that requires any person who is engaging in an activity that may pose a risk of harm to human health or the environment from pollution or waste to minimise those risks so far as reasonably practicable. The effect of this duty reduces the number of specific conditions that are included in EPA licences; however, it has placed a greater onus on the general conditions of each licence. As part of this change in emphasis, licence condition OL_G5 has been revised to reflect the GED and requires the duty holder to comply with the GED. Licence condition OL_G5 states:

• You must develop a risk management and monitoring program for your activities which:
  • identifies all the risks of harm to human health and the environment which may arise from the activities you are engaging in at your site;
  • clearly defines your environmental performance objectives;
  • clearly defines your risk control performance objectives;
  • describes how the environmental and risk control performance objectives are being achieved;
  • identifies and describes how you will continue to eliminate or minimise the risks in (1.a) above so far as reasonably practicable (SFARP); and
  • describes how the information collated in compliance with this clause, is or will be disseminated, used or otherwise considered by you or any other entity.
• The risk management and monitoring program must be:
  • documented in writing;
  • signed by a duly authorised officer of the licensed entity; and
  • made available to the Authority on request.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to guide licence holders through the process of developing a RMMP that will enable them to monitor and demonstrate compliance with the requirements of licence condition OL_G5.

What the GED means for you

The GED (section 25(4) of the Act) requires risks to be minimised SFARP and consequently requires you to:

• use and maintain plant, equipment, processes and systems in a manner that minimises risks of harm to human health and the environment from pollution and waste;
• use and maintain systems for identification, assessment and control of risks of harm to human health and the environment from pollution and waste that may arise in connection with the activity, and for the evaluation of the effectiveness of controls;
• use and maintain adequate systems to ensure that if a risk of harm to human health or the environment from pollution or waste were to eventuate, its harmful effects would be minimised;
• ensure that all substances are handled, stored, used or transported in a manner that minimises risks of harm to human health and the environment from pollution and waste; and
• provide information, instruction, supervision and training to any person engaging in the activity to enable those persons to comply with the GED.

By EPA issuing you an operating licence, it is recognised that operations at your licensed site involve activities that need the highest level of regulatory control to manage significant risks to human health and the environment. It is therefore of great importance that you have in place a clear management process to identify and mitigate those risks and demonstrate compliance with the GED. Section 25(4)(b) of the Act requires you to “use and maintain systems for identification, assessment and control of risks of harm to human health and the environment from pollution and waste that may arise in connection with the activity, and for the evaluation of the effectiveness of controls”.

Additional guidance for industry regarding compliance with the GED is provided in Industry guidance: supporting you to comply with the general environmental duty (EPA publication 1741).

Using this guide

This guide sets out the steps you may take to develop your RMMP. By following this guide, you should end up with a RMMP that will enable you to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of licence condition OL_G5 and meet the GED. Note, complying with licence condition OL_G5 does not automatically mean that you are complying with the GED.

This guide is designed to assist you to prepare a RMMP that is suitable for activities conducted at your site. The scale of the RMMP should be proportionate to the risks presented by the activities conducted by the licence holder and must provide you with the tools to eliminate or mitigate risk of harm SFARP (see following pages for further details of this requirement).

You may prepare your RMMP yourself, or you may obtain assistance from a suitably experienced person such as an environmental consultant. Information on engagement of environmental consultants is provided by EPA at: https://www.epa.vic.gov.au/for-business/find-a-topic/environmental-consultants

Further resources may be found at https://www.epa.vic.gov.au/