Environmental Guidelines for Major Construction …

1 Best Practice Environmental ManagementEnvironmental Guidelines for MajorConstruction SitesEnvironmental Guidelines forMajor Construction SitesEnvironment Protection Authority477 Collins Street, MelbourneVictoria 3000 AUSTRALIAF ebruary and planning and Environmental Risk Risk management3 Environmental management Environment management Best practice Segment Environmental control plan4 Land Management of contaminated Designing erosion and sediment control De-watering work Dust Management of stockpiles and Working in waterways and floodplains5 Noise and Operating Vehicles and Noise Vibration6 Waste material and Solid inert Putrescible Low-level contaminated Prescribed wastes8 Other Environmental Emergency Air Storage of chemicals and Road Protecting Concrete batching plants9 Inspections, monitoring and AuditingAppendix.

2 Check-list35 FOREWORDM ajor Construction projects, such as roads and freeways, are important to Victoria's economicdevelopment. During Construction , however, such projects pose a significant risk to the environment,which must be addressed by developers and practices that fail to control pollution can cause damage to waterways and wetlands, killfish, upset aquatic ecological systems and wildlife communities, and result in contamination of land andgroundwater. The risk to the environment is particularly high when work is done near coastal areas,streams and creeks, or along a river valley. When Construction occurs near built-up areas, poorpractices may result in air and noise pollution which may cause annoyance and affect the health ofneighbouring document is designed to provide developers and contractors with Guidelines on how to implementsound practices that minimise Environmental impacts and eliminate health risks and nuisance toresidents near a Construction are also sound economic reasons for implementing good Environmental practices during majorconstruction projects.

3 Excessive sedimentation of waterways can cause flooding, require expensivedredging of navigation channels downstream or reduce the capacity of downstream water storage units,destroy valuable wetlands, and reduce commercial and recreational fishing. On-site, loss of topsoilmeans importation of replacement topsoil at substantial cost. Where Construction activities cause anuisance, this places a cost on the community through loss of sites are constantly changing, and systems need to be in place to modify control measuresto maintain their effectiveness. Therefore, frequent inspection and monitoring is required to continuallycheck the effectiveness of would encourage all companies involved in the design and Construction of Major roads anddevelopment projects to use these Practice Environmental Management publications are produced by Environment ProtectionAuthority (EPA)

4 To encourage a pro-active approach to Environmental management by would be pleased to receive comments on these Guidelines from the Construction industry andother interested RobinsonChairmanEnvironment Protection AuthorityEnvironmental Guidelines for Major Construction SitesPage 111 PURPOSE AND APPLICATIONThe Environmental Guidelines for majorConstruction Sites provides a useful sourcedocument to help prepare and implement aenvironmental management plan for majorconstructions purpose of these Guidelines is to providedevelopers, contractors and governmentagencies involved with commissioning orconstructing freeways, Major roads or majordevelopment projects with: information how to avoid and minimiseenvironmental impact, which is preferableto the less cost-effective option ofcontrolling or treating discharges to theenvironment, or undertaking remedialaction.

5 Information on the likely impact ofconstruction activities on the environmentand how this is to be assessed Guidelines for undertaking risk assessmentand management a clear statement of environmentalperformance objectives for each segment ofthe environment suggested best practice environmentalmeasures to meet the performanceobjectives based on available experienceThe Guidelines provide contractors anddevelopers with a framework within which duediligence obligations can be met andenvironmental damage can be Guidelines are not prescriptive or will require tailoring them toparticular site conditions and makingadjustments if the measures listed areinappropriate to the of the measures proposed in theGuidelines are also applicable to smallerconstruction sites (less than five hectares) andshould be used where appropriate to avoid andminimise impact from such Guidelines do not refer to State legislation,regulations or Environmental , contractors and subcontractor,when they are used, must make themselvesaware of their legal obligations because theyare responsible for requirements and standards areminimium standards, and projects shouldendeavour to continually improve on Guidelines for Major Construction SitesPage 22 PRE- Construction PLANNING AND DESIGNI ntegrating environment protection at theproject planning stage ensures that measures toavoid and minimise pollution can be built intothe project design and work schedule.

6 Thisapproach is more cost-effective thanestablishing controls once the a site has been selected, it is necessary toconduct an environment assessment thatidentifies which parts of the environment maybe vulnerable to damage from a risk assessment is a useful way inwhich to approach this aspect of sitemanagement. Environmental risk deals with theprobability of an event causing an undesirableeffect. There are three elements to considerwhen defining risk1. They are: a time frame over which the risk or risksare being considered a probability of the occurrence of one ormore events a measure of the consequences of thoseeventsBased on the site assessment, project designinformation and the Construction workprogram, a risk assessment of all aspects of theproject can be executed. This assessment inturn leads to a strategy to manage all significantrisks to the Environmental assessmentUnderstanding which segments of theenvironment are vulnerable is a prerequisite toidentifying and managing Environmental risks.

7 1T. Beer & F. Ziolkowski, Environmentalrisk assessment: an Australian perspective,Supervising Scientist Report 102, assessment should not only consider theenvironmental impacts on a site, but whether ornot off-site effects are initial assessment of the site should beconducted to identify sensitive environmentalareas or uses that require protection. These mayinclude: sensitive or endangered flora and fauna aquatic plants and animals, if a naturalwaterway is affected groundwater recharge areasDepending on whether or not the constructionsite is near houses, schools or hospitals, theimpact of air discharges, noise and vibration onthe health and amenity of adjacent residents willneed to be included in the the project has been approved, but beforeconstruction commences, it is important toinitiate an Environmental monitoring program tocollect baseline data on all sectors of Guidelines for Major Construction SitesPage 3 Environmental ASSESSMENTO bjectiveTo identify or obtain information on anyrelevant Environmental impact that theconstruction project may measures Identify sensitive Environmental areas oruses that may be affected by constructionactivities.

8 Identify whether residents adjacent to thesite could be affected by pollution fromconstruction activities or suffer reducedamenity. Monitor baseline air and water quality andambient noise levels adjacent to theconstruction site. Conduct an assessment of expected noiselevels from Construction activities whichmay affect the surrounding community. Conduct a desk study to identify potentiallycontaminated sites in the Construction area,and sample and analyse soils that aresuspected of being contaminated beforeconstruction Risk assessmentRisk assessment is defined as the identificationand characterisation of the nature of existingand potential adverse effects to humans and theenvironment resulting from exposure toenvironmental is a function of the probability of an eventoccurring and the degree of damage that wouldresult should it from the environment assessment isrequired in order to conduct a risk of the project design and the workprogram are also assessment allows significant risks to beidentified so that they can be targeted initial risk assessment needs to beregularly reviewed.

9 An ongoing risk assessmentis therefore an integral part of theEnvironmental Management System (seesection ). This involves a review of existingrisks and identification of new risks detectedthrough the surveillance or assessment can be divided into six gatheringA risk assessment requires information aboutsite conditions. This information is used inconjunction with information collected duringthe Environmental assessment (see section ).The following information needs to be collectedbefore Construction commences: a map of soil types and their erosionpotential climate, weather patterns and stream flows topography and natural geographic features(including whether site is in a floodplain) the Construction schedule changes to the topography of the site duringeach stage of the project a map of existing vegetation identifyingareas to be retained details of areas of cleared land at eachstage of the development, and period oftime that each section will be exposed changes to drainage and identification ofsources of clean and contaminatedstormwaterEnvironmental Guidelines for Major Construction SitesPage 4 calculation of stormwater flows withinmicro-catchments within the site, based ona one-in-two-year storm event (two-yearARI with intensity of six hours)

10 , for eachstage of the project location of stockpiles, batters, haul roadsand cuts nature and location of works that will occurwithin 50 metres of anatural waterway or other sensitiveenvironmental areaHazard identificationHazard identification involves identifyingactivities that could lead to an adverse effect onthe environment, impair human health, result ina nuisance, or decrease the amenity of residentsadjacent to a Construction is necessary to consider both direct andpotential causes of hazard, which could causewater, air, land or noise pollution. Hazards mayarise out of features of the site, or the nature ofconstruction activities. For example, clearingvegetation from large areas and exposingerodible soil is a high-risk activity which maylead to dust generation and sediment pollution prevention and controlmeasures should be considered when identifyinghazards, because if they fail, there will be anadverse impact on the analysisHazard analysis considers the likelihood of anenvironmental hazard being analysis is based on previous experience,historical data for the failure rate of structuresand systems, and includes the impact of site-specific conditions which may influence risklevels.