If you are a declared dam owner, Dams Safety NSW is responsible for monitoring your compliance with dams safety legislation. We identify non-compliance through audits or other information sources.
Dams Safety NSW exercises a range of proactive, planned compliance activities with declared dam owners, including:
- running a risk-based audit program with compliance priorities determined by dam consequence category and other risk factors
- risk-based inspections.
We will audit the policies, processes and procedures of declared dam owners according to a schedule based on compliance priorities. Audits can take the form of desktop or field audits, and we will create a report after each audit.
Why we audit declared dams
We use a systems-based approach to safety management by auditing declared dams to identify potential risks. After your dam is audited, we will clearly communicate whether you need to change systems or practices.
Information from audits helps to
- detect non-compliance in a timely manner
- determine level and trends in compliance
- identify where action may be needed to avoid or mitigate dam safety risks
- identify when and what type of education or enforcement may be needed
- assess and review the effectiveness of regulatory projects, education and information programs.
Through audits we assure the safety of communities throughout NSW.
Our regulatory priorities for 2023-2024
Dams Safety NSW is committed to regularly reporting our regulatory priorities. We publish our priorities to increase transparency and community confidence in our regulatory activities and increase levels of voluntary compliance.
The following are our 2023-24 regulatory priorities.
Audit program
The audit program is developed using a risk-based approach to ensure timely and efficient allocation of our resources. The program addresses our Regulatory Policy, legislative requirements and the AS/NZ ISO 19011:2019 guideline for auditing management systems.
Our 2023-2024 audit program will focus on:
- Extreme and High consequence category dams
- Dams where there is active design, construction or major modification
- Dams with wet tailings placement (mining)
- Dams with poor compliance history.
Increased regulatory oversight of dams above the safety threshold
Dams Safety NSW will also maintain an increased regulatory oversight of dams with a societal risk known to be above the safety threshold, as defined in the Regulation.
We periodically review our compliance priorities to ensure they remain relevant and consistent with our Strategic Plan.
Education and engagement
Dams Safety NSW seeks to increase voluntary compliance through a cooperative and collaborative approach. We recognise that engagement with declared dam owners is an important way to influence safety behaviours.
Our education program aims to empower, support and enhance the capability of dam owners to manage dams safely for the NSW community.
Our 2023-24 education program will focus on:
- common non-compliances in Operations and maintenance plans and Emergency plans
- sectors of lower engagement satisfaction and/or involvement with DSNSW
- dam owners’ communication and engagement with their communities on dam safety risks
- owners’ self-reported knowledge and skill gaps
Regulatory projects
Our regulatory projects address emerging regulatory problems (or issues) that cut across Dams Safety NSW’s compliance and education programs or address particular events or risks.
We focus on solving problems that have the greatest impact on dam safety management and compliance and prioritise them according to the potential impact of the risk or problem to people and environmental and economic assets.
Regulatory projects define and investigate the root causes of a priority problem (like a lack of information on the capacity of the NSW consulting industry to produce risk reports) and then applying an appropriate mix of regulatory tools to try to fix it. This could include, for example, research, information and guidance, new policy requirements, incentives and enforcement actions. During and after a regulatory project, the impact of the new initiatives are measured to see if they are resolving the problem, or whether more changes need to be made. If a regulatory project is effective, its approach can become part of what we do as normal business.
Our 2023-24 regulatory projects will focus on:
- The requirement for a dam owner to produce a risk report
- ensuring compliance with the requirement
- analysing current risk reporting status and confirming DSNSW is providing guidance to help dam owners produce risk reports
- Developing regulatory guidance material to support the ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’ (SFAIRP) requirement for risk treatment in clause 14 of the Dams Safety Regulation 2019.
Regulatory oversight committee
The Dams Safety NSW Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) ensures that there is appropriate internal oversight, accountability and consistency in regulatory decision-making within DSNSW, in accordance with the principles set out in the Regulatory Policy.
Dams Safety NSW’s (DSNSW) regulatory principles include a commitment to:
- taking decisions within an effective corporate governance process to maintain objectivity, independence, and integrity
- aiming for high levels of consistency in the decision-making process
- making decisions based on evidence
- taking regulatory action that is proportionate to the circumstances
- employing processes that provide procedural fairness and natural justice
- keeping appropriate records of regulatory activities so that decisions can be readily accessed and scrutinised.
The ROC provides the mechanism for DSNSW to review previous regulatory decisions to enable consistent decisions to be made.
The Terms of Reference document describes and determines how the ROC functions.
Enforcement
We take a graduated and proportionate approach to non-compliance, based on the severity and potential harm to people, the environment or property. Our approach to serious non-compliance also considers the declared dam owner’s culpability, co-operation and approach to the non-compliance, and the public interest.