Environmental Protection Licence
2504
Pollution Incident Response
Management Plan
PUBLIC VERSION
Environmental Protection Licence 2504
Pollution Incident Response Management Plan
Review History
Revision
Description of Changes
Date
1.0
Original Document
August 2012
2.0
Minor Updates and Review of Inventory Tables
November 2014
Persons involved in the latest revision of this document include:
Name
Title
Company
Scott Coleman
Manager Environment
Illawarra Coal – Regional
Pete McMillan
Superintendent Environment
Illawarra Coal – Regional
Rob Zylstra
Supervisor Environment
Illawarra Coal – Appin Mine
Ellie Randall
Supervisor Environment
Illawarra Coal – West Cliff
Version Approval:
Version
Dated
Name
Title
2.0
November 2014
Scott Coleman
Manager Environment
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Next Review Date
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Environmental Protection Licence 2504
Pollution Incident Response Management Plan
Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Introduction
4
Facility Details
4
Overview of Operations
4
Plan Objectives
4
Hazard/Pollution Identification
6
Pollutant Inventory
6
Hazard Identification and Assessment
6
Incident Response Protocols
7
Incident Response Process Flow (for Material Incidents)
7
Communication Protocol
8
On-site Incident Management/Response
9
Administration
10
Staff Awareness/Training
Document Availability
10
10
Testing of Plan
10
References
11
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Environmental Protection Licence 2504
Pollution Incident Response Management Plan
1. Introduction
Facility Details
The facility details, as defined in Environmental Protection Licence 2504, are summarised in Table 1.
Table 1: Facility Details
Company:
Endeavour Coal Pty Ltd
EPL Number:
2504
Scheduled Activities:
Coal Works
Mining for Coal
Waste Disposal (application to land)
Facility Name and Address:
Appin West Colliery
Douglas Park Drive
Douglas Park NSW 2569
Appin (East) Colliery
Off Appin Road
Appin NSW 2560
West Cliff and North Cliff Collieries
Wedderburn Road
Appin NSW 2560
Overview of Operations
The premises and facilities associated with EPL 2504 are wholly owned and operated by Endeavour Coal P/L, a
subsidiary company of Illawarra Coal P/L (ICH) and BHP Billiton Ltd (BHPB).
The premises and facilities covered by EPL 2504 include the Appin West, Appin East and West Cliff mines.
Underground mining activities have been carried out at West Cliff Mine since 1976. Underground mining activities within
the Appin Holdings commenced at Appin (East) Colliery in 1962 and at the Appin West Colliery (formerly Tower Colliery)
in 1978.
Run-of-Mine (ROM) coal from the Appin underground mining operations is transported from the Appin East Pit Top via
truck along Appin Road and Wedderburn Road to the West Cliff Coal Preparation Plant (CPP). ROM coal from the West
Cliff Mine is delivered directly to the CPP by winder and conveyor. Processed coal (clean coal product) from the CPP is
transported by road to the Port Kembla Coal Terminal (PKCT) for shipping to domestic and international customers, or to
BlueScope Steel or other local customers.
The coal wash generated as part of the washing process is emplaced at the purpose-built emplacement area located at
the West Cliff Pit Top (North Site).
Plan Objectives
This Pollution Incident Response Management Plan has been developed in accordance with the requirements of the
Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Amendment (Pollution Incident Response Management Plans)
Regulation 2012.
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Environmental Protection Licence 2504
Pollution Incident Response Management Plan
The objectives of the plan (as per the EPA’s Environmental Guidelines for the preparation of pollution incident response
management plans) are to:

Ensure comprehensive and timely communication about a pollution incident to staff at the premises, the
Environment Protection Authority (EPA), other relevant authorities and community members who may be affected
by the impacts of the pollution incident;

Minimise and control the risk of a pollution incident at the facility by requiring identification of risks and the
development of planned actions to minimise and manage those risks; and

Ensure that the plan is properly implemented by trained staff, identifying persons responsible for implementing it,
and ensuring that the plan is regularly tested for accuracy, currency and suitability.
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Environmental Protection Licence 2504
Pollution Incident Response Management Plan
2. Hazard/Pollution Identification
Pollutant Inventory
Site inspections were conducted to establish an inventory of storages for each of the facilities listed under Environmental
Protection Licence 2504. The inventories include details of potential pollutants at the storages, the maximum quantity
that is likely to be stored or held at the facilities, and whether the storages have the potential to be associated with a
material pollution incident.
The site inspections were conducted by Illawarra Environmental personnel during April 2012. The inventories were
reviewed in November 2014. The pollutant inventories for each of the licence facilities are provided as Appendix A.
The storages are assigned a specific identification number with the location of the storages reflected in the site maps for
each of the facilities (refer to Appendix C).
Hazard Identification and Assessment
The definition of a pollution incident is:
‘pollution incident means an incident or set of circumstances during or as a consequence of which there is or is likely
to be a leak, spill or other escape or deposit of a substance, as a result of which pollution has occurred, is occurring
or is likely to occur. It includes an incident or set of circumstances in which a substance has been placed or
disposed of on premises, but it does not include an incident or set of circumstances involving only the emission of
any noise’
A pollution incident is required to be notified if there is a risk of ‘material harm to the environment’, which is defined in
section 147 of the POEO Act as:
a)
a)
harm to the environment is material if:
i. it involves actual or potential harm to the health or safety of human beings or to ecosystems that is not trivial,
or
ii. it results in actual or potential loss or property damage of an amount, or amounts in aggregate, exceeding
$10,000 (or such other amount as is prescribed by the regulations), and
loss includes the reasonable costs and expenses that would be incurred in taking all reasonable and practicable
measures to prevent, mitigate or make good harm to the environment.
Site inspections have been conducted to identify the main hazards to human health or the environment associated with a
pollution incident at the each of the facilities.
The listing and assessment of pollution incidents with potentially material consequences are provided in the ‘Hazard
Assessment Summary Tables’ in Appendix B. The hazard assessments provide for description of the event, likely
causes, consequences, responses and controls and ranking for materiality of the consequences.
Note: Regardless of whether a particular incident is captured within the hazard assessment tables, any pollution incident
with the potential for material consequences will be addressed as per the ‘incident response protocols’ of this plan.
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Environmental Protection Licence 2504
Pollution Incident Response Management Plan
3. Incident Response Protocols
This section provides details on the incident response protocols, including the communication protocol and on-site
emergency response actions, for responding to an incident that has resulted in a material impact to human health or the
environment (as per the definition provided in Section 2 of this plan).
Incident Response Process Flow (for Material Incidents)
The process flow for incidents that trigger the materiality clause (refer to Section 2) is provided in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Incident Response Process Flow – Material Incidents
Key responsibilities associated with the incident response process flow chart are summarised in the table below.
Table 2: Roles and Responsbilities – Incident Response Process
Role
Responsibility
Manager Environment, or
Assess materiality of incident and activate relevant response system
Superintendent Environment
Assess potential for off-site impacts and notify Corporate Affairs team if required
Notify internal stakeholders as appropriate
Notify relevant agencies
Site Personnel
Report actual or potential incidents immediately
(including Environmental Representative)
Assist in site response and clean-up activities
Site based Incident Management Teams
Coordinate Incident Response Activities (as appropriate)
Manager Public Affairs
Coordinate Media Response/s and Community Notifications
(Note: Only Asset President or nominated delegate is to speak to Media)
Community Relations Personnel
Communication with impacted community members
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Pollution Incident Response Management Plan
Communication Protocol
Internal Stakeholders (i.e. employees/contractors)
Internal communications will be undertaken as per the site Incident Management Manuals (refer to reference list).
Government Agencies
The key contacts associated with the implementation/activation of this plan are provided in Table 3. The relevant
government agencies will be notified of a material harm event immediately (i.e. promptly and without delay).
Table 3: Key Contacts Table
Illawarra Coal
IC Manager Environment (via ICH Call Line)
1800 102 210
External Agencies
Environmental Protection Authority
131 555
NSW Department of Trade and Investment – Resources & Energy
(generally considered to be ARA)
(Wollongong Office)
Ministry of Health (Penrith Office)*
(02) 9845 5555*
WorkCover Authority
13 10 50
Wollondilly Shire Council
02 4677 1100
Fire and Rescue NSW
000
NSW State Emergency Service
132 500
Sydney Catchment Authority
(02) 4724 2200
NSW Dams Safety Committee (Brennans Creek Dam Incident only)
(02) 9895 7363
(02) 4222 8333
* Ask for Public Health Officer on call
The information that is required to be reported is provided below:

Time, date and duration of the incident;

Duration of the event;

Locations where pollution is occurring or is likely to occur;

Nature, estimated quantity or volume and concentration of any pollutants involved ( if known);

Circumstances in which the incident occurred (including the cause of the incident, if known); and

Action taken or proposed to be taken.
Local Community
Community stakeholders that are potentially affected by a material harm event will be notified immediately (i.e. without
delay) by one of the following methods:

Door knocking by company representatives or emergency services personnel (dependant on nature of event); or

Phone call by company representative ; or

Brennans Creek Dam Emergency notification alert system (for residents potentially impacts by dam failure).
The appropriate method for communication will be determined by the nature of the event or as directed by the relevant
agency.
Regular updates will be provided to the affected community stakeholders throughout the course of the event.
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Environmental Protection Licence 2504
Pollution Incident Response Management Plan
On-site Incident Management/Response
Incident Management Manuals are in place for each of the facilities which describe the (on-site) actions to be taken in
response to an incident that has (or has the potential to) resulted in a material impact to human health and/or the
environment. These manuals will be activated in parallel with this plan to ensure that the impacts of the pollution incident
are minimised as much as practically possible through early response/management. The Incident Management Manuals
define the roles and responsibilities of key site personnel and provide information on evacuation protocols and muster
points.
A Dam Safety Emergency Plan (DSEP) is in place for Brennans Creek Dam. The DSEP has been developed in
accordance with Dam Safety Act requirements and provides details of the emergency response procedures (including
internal and external communication protocols) that are to be used in the event of a dam failure. The DSEP has been
prepared through consultation with the NSW State Emergency Service.
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Pollution Incident Response Management Plan
4. Administration
This section of the plan provides details on the process that will be used to make site personnel aware of the plan
requirements and document the process for periodically testing the plan.
Staff Awareness/Training
All site personnel will be made aware of the requirements of this plan during the Illawarra Coal site induction process
(managed by Southern Mines Rescue Station). Completion of this induction package is a pre-requisite for working on any
Illawarra Coal controlled operation. All personnel are required to complete refresher training on an annual basis for
underground workers and two-yearly for surface personnel.
In addition to the above induction, spill response and chemical handling aspects will also be provided to key personnel
on site (i.e. personnel that can influence the environmental performance of the operation) as part of the Illawarra Coal
Environmental eLearning Training Package. This training package was developed by the Illawarra Coal Environmental
Team and is administered Illawarra Coal Training Team.
Training records are managed through the STAX training database.
Document Availability
In accordance with Section 153D of the POEO Act, the plan will be made available to all site personnel via the site
document control system.
In addition, the plan framework, protocols and processes (public version) will be made available to the public via the
following methods:

Uploading a public version of the plan to the BHP Billiton website under the About Us/ Regulatory Information tab.
(www. bhpbilliton.com)

Providing copies of the public version of the plan, without charge, to any person
Testing of Plan
This plan will be tested at least once every 12 months to ensure that the information contained within the plan is accurate
and up to date, and that the plan is capable of being implemented in a workable and effective manner.
The primary method for testing the plan will be via desktop simulations which will be supplemented by periodic practical
exercises or drills.
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Environmental Protection Licence 2504
Pollution Incident Response Management Plan
5. References
Dam Safety Emergency Plan (DSEP) – Brennans Creek Dam
Incident Management Manual – Appin Mine
Incident Management Manual – West Cliff Mine
Incident Management Manual – West Cliff Coal Preparation Plant.
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