ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING
Most jurisdictions across Australia now have environmental and planning laws in place that require the appointment of an independent environmental auditor to oversee contaminated land investigation and remediation works, in certain circumstances.
Environmental auditors are typically required to be engaged when a site that has been used for purposes that have the potential to cause land contamination are being considered for re-development to a more sensitive use (e.g. residential use). Normally this will require engagement of both an environmental auditor and a site assessment consultant. The auditor, in effect, acts on behalf of the people of the State and the responsible environmental authority in evaluating whether the site is suitable for its proposed use.
The auditor works closely with the appointed site assessment consultant in order to approve investigation works and verify site remediation (in the event that this is required) including:
Verification of environmental monitoring plans
Verification of landfill aftercare management plans
Completion of Preliminary Risk Screen Assessments (PRSAs) and Environmental Audits (Victoria)
Completion of Site Contamination Audits and Restricted Scope Audits (South Australia)
Environmental Auditors:
BlueSphere has the professionals on staff that are accredited to undertake contaminated land audits in Victoria and South Australia:
Michael Seignior
Michael is an Environmental Auditor (Contaminated Land), as appointed by the Environment Protection Authority Victoria (first appointed in this position in 2003), an accredited Site Contamination Auditor in South Australia (Accreditation No. 2009028) and Certified Practitioner – Site Assessment and Management with Site Contamination Practitioners Australia (Certification No. 15013). Michael has over 25 years’ experience in contaminated land management and remediation, human health and environmental risk assessment, environmental / analytical chemistry and industrial hygiene.
Dr Darren Bennetts
Darren is an Environmental Auditor (Contaminated Land), as appointed by the Environment Protection Authority Victoria, a Certified Environmental Practitioner Site Contamination Specialist (Auditor) – CEnvP (SC) and a Suitably Qualified Person in Queensland. Darren has over 13 years’ experience in environmental consulting, with significant expertise in soil, groundwater and gas investigations, aqueous geochemistry, risk assessments, site remediation, and water resource management. In addition, he has conducted numerous environmental audits pursuant to both Section 53X and 53V of the Environment Protection Act 1970 in Victoria, as well as acting as an expert support team member for over 100 statutory audits performed in Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Western Australia. He has also acted as an expert witness on a number of occasions.