Dealing with incidents: managing your environmental and safety risk

A recent decision of the Land and Environment Court (Court) in Environmental Protection Authority v Environmental Treatment Solutions [2015] NSWLEC 160 highlights the importance and necessity of staff adherence to both environmental and workplace safety policies, particularly when dealing with dangerous goods.

Facts

Environmental Treatment Solutions (ETS) is a waste storage and processing business that processes liquid and solid wastes from commercial and industrial sources across NSW and interstate. In February 2014, 2 ETS employees were undertaking a licensed activity under the Protection of the Environment Operation Act 1997 (NSW) (POEO Act), an acid alkali neutralization. At the time ETS had a number of workplace procedures for undertaking the licensed activity, and a week prior to the incident ETS had started a waste identification system. The creation of this system was prompted by an environmental audit by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).