Report a pollution incident

If your business activities have caused a notifiable incident, you must report the incident to us as soon as you become aware of it. Call our 24-hour pollution hotline on 1300 372 842.

A notifiable incident is pollution that harms or threatens to harm human health or the environment. This usually involves a leak, a spill, an unintended or unauthorised deposit, or an escape of a substance.

When you report an incident, it helps us to respond quickly and let people know about any environmental risks.

With the information in the reports, we can better support businesses and the community to prevent pollution incidents in the future, and we can address any non-compliance.

What to report to EPA

You must report an incident if it causes or threatens material harm. This means that:

• it impacts human health or the environment
• it impacts an area of high conservation value or special significance
• the clean-up or management of the pollution would cost $10,000 or more.
  

You must report the incident even if it's contained to your site, and even if it puts your business at risk of legal action.

You should report an incident if:

• the release is uncontrolled or unplanned and could cause material harm
• the substances are harmful to water or land in large quantities, such as milk and organic materials
• the substances are dangerous or toxic and threaten the environment or people – for example, your WorkSafe safety data sheet(opens in a new window) indicates risk to the environment or to people.

Actual harm does not need to have occurred for you to report the incident.

What not to report

You do not need to make a report if there's no threat to human health or the environment.

For example, you may not need to report an incident if:

• it's a small spill that you have contained and cleaned up on site (this depends on the substances spilt, as some chemicals can leak through concrete and other barriers)
• the release does not threaten the environment and would cost less than $10,000 to clean up
• there are no known risks from the substance and the site can be easily restored.

Who needs to make a report

If you're involved in an activity that causes a notifiable incident, it’s your responsibility to report it. If more than one person is involved, at least one person must report it.

The duty to notify Authority of a notifiable incident is outlined under Section 32(opens in a new window) of the Environment Protection Act 2017. This duty also applies to people who should know about the incident – such as managers and business owners. Not being aware of the impacts of your business activities is not an excuse.

If you have a contractor or a subcontractor doing the activity on your behalf, you still have a responsibility to report the incident.

If no one reports the incident, then everyone has failed to meet their duty.

How to report a pollution incident at a worksite

You must report the incident to us as soon as you become aware of it, or reasonably should have been aware of it.

1. Contact us

Call our 24-hour pollution hotline on 1300 372 842.

We ask you for the following information:

• your contact details
• your business name and address
• the date, time and location of the incident
• the type of incident it was – such as a spill, leak, escape or fire
• what caused the incident
• the volume you estimate was released
• what you think the impact may be on human health and the environment
• how you’re managing the incident.

If the incident happened during a prescribed activity, you need to provide your permission ID.

2. Return the notification form to us

We email you a notification form after you have reported the incident.

Complete the form and return it to us within 5 business days.

What happens next

We review your report to assess the risk to human health and the environment. We review new reports 7 days a week.

If an officer needs to attend your site, you may be asked to help during their inspection.

Information from your report helps us to:

• respond quickly where needed
• inform the community about environmental risks and conditions
• understand when serious incidents can occur
• identify and address non-compliance under the general environmental duty.

Check your controls

If there's been an incident or a near miss, check that your controls are working as planned. Controls are put in place to manage risk. If they're ineffective or not working, you need to find out why and take action.

Use a risk management process to help you do this.