An Environmental Impact Assessment, otherwise known as an EIA, is a mandatory task that must be undertaken before the commencement of any project in the Australian construction industry. An EIA is essentially an assessment of the impact any project will have on the environment. It is absolutely necessary that all construction companies and contractors undertake one if they do not wish to pay large fines or possibly face prosecution.
At a federal level, the EIA is included as part of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act or the EPBC Act. At a state level, this is included in the corresponding state legislation.
One of the key components of any Environmental Impact Assessment is the Environmental Management Plan, or more commonly known as an EMP. The rest of the article will explain how to adequately and correctly prepare an EMP in addition to the benefits of using templates.
How To Prepare An EMP
Knowing how to prepare an EMP is very important if you want to get your construction approved and underway as quick as possible. In the construction industry, such a plan is known as a Construction Environmental Management Plan.
The Queensland Government gives some great advice on how to prepare an EMP, in particular, the content and format of one. Below is just a sample of what they advise an EMP should include:
- Established performance criteria and objectives
- How you hope to control environmental impacts on the site
- Detailed explanation of responsibilities for environmental management
- Corrective actions to be taken to fix any failure to reach performance criteria
Using Templates
In most cases, you would probably not want to embark on writing up an EMP from scratch as part of an Environmental Impact Assessment. It’s very likely that you are even too busy to find time to do one. For this reason, using a professionally written template would be more convenient.
The benefits associated with using an Environmental Management Plan Template outweigh the drawbacks. While it may cost you a bit to get your hands on a template, you can be rest assured that it will be a wise investment for both you and the environment.
Making sure that you adequately undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment can play a key role in your construction success.
