June 2022 Board meeting minutes

Dams Safety NSW Board Meeting No 25

15 June 2022

Location: Virtual

Time: 9:30am - 1:20pm

Attendees: Ross Carter (chair), Alex Fisher (dep chair), Shane McGrath, Rob O’Neill, Julie Garland McLellan, Chris Salkovic, Margaret Hynes, Jason Porter, Peter Boyd, Muhammad Akber, Jacqui Page (secretariat)

Apologies: Peter Boyd

Declarations of interest: Shane McGrath declared some additional working relationships and advised that Declaration of interest register had been updated to reflect the changes. Noted by Chair that no items on the agenda relate to these companies.

Item	Discussion and actions
1	Meeting open 1.1 Appointed members only 1.2 Acknowledgement of country and welcome 1.3 Previous minutes and actions Minutes accepted with no amendments.
2	Strategy/Stakeholder Matters for Decision 2.1 Strategic plan update Margaret Hynes presented the final DSNSW Strategic Plan 2022-27 for approval. Members acknowledged the work done by the Management team in developing the plan. Decision: Members approved the DSNSW Strategic Plan 2022-27 with some minor adjustments.
3	Governance Matters for Noting 3.1 Governance and management documents Chris Salkovic presented a list of current DSNSW governance and management documents. Members acknowledged it provided DSNSW with a stocktake of what is in place. Members identified a few key documents that could be added, including Operations Plan, Internal Audit Plan, and some to be developed as identified in the new Strategic Plan. Action 20221506-01: Management team to undertake gap analysis of governance and management documents and present a future state document list at a future meeting. Action 20221506-02: Management team to place live version of governance and management document list in the Resource Centre.
4	Operations Matters for Decision 4.1 Declaration / de-declaration of dams Jason Porter presented the dams to be declared and de-declared and walked through in detail the robust assessment process carried out by his team in developing their recommendations to the Board. The example used was for the Scotts Dam declaration recommendation. Members acknowledged the work Jason and his team had done in establishing and demonstrating a robust assessment process. Decisions Members approved the declaration of Scotts Dam Members approved the de-declaration of Imperial Lake Dam. Action 20221506-03: Management to consider when next reviewing the DSNSW methodologies the continued suitability of Graham’s method, and potential inclusion of how potential spills from tailings dams that might have environmental impacts are assessed. Action 20221506-04: Management to present at a future meeting an analysis paper discussing the risks and benefits of options for increasing confidence and accessibility of Competent persons, and a recommended option. Matters for Discussion 4.2 Analysis of annual safety standards reports Muhammad Akber presented further analysis of the annual safety standards reports received as at 27 May 2022. Members acknowledged the great work that had gone into this item. Action 20221506-05: Management team to present at future meeting an update on analysis and further details of the regulatory strategy and actions in response. 4.3 February and March flooding events Chris Salkovic and Jason Porter discussed their experiences, observations and lessons learned from the flooding event with the Members. Members acknowledged the impacts from this year’s flooding and discussed the ongoing La Nina outlook and opportunities for the team to improve preparedness and responsiveness for future events. This included managing team impacts from prolonged events. Matters for Noting 4.4 CEO Report Chris Salkovic presented his CEO Report. Action 20221506-06: Management team to send members the link to the online training course “Surveillance of embankment dams – routine inspections”. 4.5 Key Performance Indicators and projects Key performance indicators and projects taken as read. 4.6 Detailed Operations update Taken as read. Members acknowledged the rich data being collected and presented in the Operations update over the past 12 months. They recommended that the management team develop a high-level dashboard to replace the current Operations update. Action 20221506-07: Management team to develop a high-level dashboard (including trends and insights) with alignment to the Strategic Plan. 4.7 Capability Maturity update Noted. 4.8 Dams above safety threshold Jason Porter presented an overview of the current ‘High risk dams. Members noted that there was information being provided that was no longer required and the need to refresh information in the overview. Action 20221506-08: Management team to review High Risk dams table and include information such as annual report submission and emergency plan and exercise status. Action 20221506-09: Management team to consider the timing and role of Section 19 notices when a dam is identified as above the safety threshold.
5	General Business Ross Carter advised that he will be away most of July and that the Dep Chair, Alex Fisher, would chair the July meeting. Country meeting date to be changed to 10-11 October 2022. Action 20221506-10: Management team to schedule a members’ only, out of session meeting, in August 2022 to undertake review of performance and effectiveness.
6	Meeting Finalisation 6.1 Review actions taken 6.2 Meeting evaluation by Shane McGrath 6.3 Next meeting – Next meeting to be virtual on 26 July 2022.