We consider the risk assessment criteria from the Environment Protection Regulations 2021(opens in a new window) to decide:
- if a financial assurance should be a condition
- if a review of a financial assurance is needed under subsection 225(2)(g) of the Environment Protection Act 2017(opens in a new window)
- the form of financial assurance we will require.
The risk assessment criteria cover:
- the risk of harm to human health and the environment
- your history of compliance
- if you're a prohibited person
- your financial capacity
- the risk of abandonment
- how much the clean-up might cost.
Risk of harm to human health and the environment
We assess how much risk of harm to human health and the environment is posed by activities that involve:
- receiving, handling, storing, processing or disposing of dangerous goods
- managing persistent environmental contaminants
- managing waste that is costly to treat
- a lack of proven and effective risk controls
- cleaning up or rehabilitating land.
We consider the risk posed by the nature of materials and wastes at your site – for example:
- how much waste you can store at the site at any time
- what types of pollution and waste your activity generates – for example, air pollution, dust or wastewater
- the location of your site and what surrounding natural areas and features could be impacted
- the potential for contamination to the land, surface water and groundwater.
Compliance history
We assess your compliance history. This includes your previous compliance with current and past environmental laws.
Prohibited person
A prohibited person can hold a permission if it's not against the public interest.
We consider the need for financial assurance when we issue a prohibited person with:
- a permission
- a site management order
- an environmental action notice.
Your financial capacity
We assess your financial capacity to make sure you can:
- comply with the conditions of your permission
- pay any clean-up or remediation costs you might need to pay.
Likelihood of site abandonment
When a site is abandoned, we take responsibility for clean-up. We may require a financial assurance to avoid the Victorian community covering the costs.
To decide this, we assess:
- your character
- your ownership of the site
- the amount and nature of waste and materials received, stored and managed at the site
- the short-term and long-term commercial viability of your activity
- how complex the company’s ownership is, including if you're based overseas.
Clean-up or remediation
We may require financial assurance where complex or costly clean-up or remediation is likely for:
- permissions
- site management orders
- environmental action notices.
To decide this, we consider:
- what's involved to clean up or remediate your site
- how much we estimate clean-up will cost
- the amount and type of waste you expect to manage
- any shutdown plans you have.
To learn how financial assurances are calculated, visit Financial assurances for permissions and contaminated land or refer to Calculation of financial assurance for landfills, reportable priority waste management and waste and resource recovery facilities.
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