Demolition Environmental Management Plan (DEMP)

The purpose of the Demolition Environmental Management Plan (DEMP) is to provide a framework within which all environmental obligations during demolition and decommissioning can be met and adverse impacts can be avoided. The DEMP should cover all aspects of a project’s environmental management and address all the significant impacts that can arise during the Demolition phase.

DEMP provides specific environmental guidance for the demolition phase of a project and provides some environmental monitoring and reporting that is envisaged after completion of the abandonment and restoration works.

The DEMP presents the project’s environmental commitment, management planning, works procedures and implementation. It provides an overview of the measures that will ensure that potential environmental hazards and the associated risks will be minimised or mitigated during the demolition works.

Why DEMP?

The intent of DEMP is to achieve the following overarching objectives,

  • Ensure that contractors have a clear understanding of environmental obligations and receive appropriate training to perform their duties in a competent manner
  • Comply with relevant state environmental requirements
  • Comply with international and other standards
  • Ensure zero significant environmental incidents during demolition and injury free (IIF) operations

Methodology

A DEMP shall cover,

  1. Proposed project associated demolition activities and project schedule
    • Affected biophysical, economic and social environment: A brief description of the surrounding environment, highlighting those elements of the environment that may be impacted by the project and which should be included in the monitoring program.
  2. Impacts Associated with the demolition Activity
    • A summary of the predicted negative and positive impacts associated with the demolition activities highlighting those rated with medium or high significance, as these require the implementation of prevention and mitigation measures.
  1. Policies and Legal Requirements
    • Identification of the policies, legislation, standards, guidelines and associated permits that apply to the project, related to the activities specified in the DEMP. Projects located in brown fields or within industrial areas may be subject to additional regulations and guidelines defined by these.
  1. Organization, Roles and Responsibilities
    • Definition of the organization and responsibilities for the range of actions contained in the EMP, clarifying arrangements for coordination among the role players involved in its implementation, e.g. contractors and subcontractors.
    • The roles and responsibilities of the key parties involved in the implementation of the EMP, for implementing environmental management actions and monitoring requirements and meeting the conditions in the environmental permit.
  2. Implementation Program
    • The implementation program provides the core of the EMP and should include a description of the following:
    • Objectives: – Overarching objectives to be achieved, desired outcomes from effectively minimizing negative impacts and enhancing the positive ones.
    • Demolition monitoring activities
    • Performance specifications (i.e. criteria and targets) for each action or monitoring activity, in order to assess whether the actions have been effective. They could be based on the level at which an environmental condition must remain, the level to which the environmental condition must be restored, legislated or agreed limits and the socio-economic benefits through the project. Whenever possible, these performance specifications should be quantitative
    • Implementation schedule, showing the sequence and timing (including frequency and duration) of the actions and monitoring activities of the EMP. Where monitoring reports will be submitted and the timing of such reports should be indicated. The schedule must be confirmed with the PED or the Asset Holder, to ensure the links between the implementation schedule and the overall project or operations schedule are set.
  1. Training and Environmental Awareness
    • Training is essential to ensure that the EMP provisions are implemented efficiently and effectively, hence the EMP shall specify the requirements of environmental training and awareness for all project personnel to ensure they perform their designated tasks to an acceptable standard. Training and awareness program may include:
    • Site induction
    • Familiarization with DEMP requirements and environmental measures being implemented
    • Method for reporting observations and implementing corrective actions
    • Emergency response
  1. Reporting Procedures
    • Reporting procedures and practices to be followed during the implementation of the DEMP, to ensure that information from the monitoring activities is conveyed and rapid corrective actions are taken, should certain threshold be exceeded.
  2. Auditing
    • Environmental audits to be scheduled during DEMP to record and the implementation of corrective actions will be verified.
  1. Response to Non-Compliance
    • The system to be used for dealing with non-compliance will be described in the DEMP, included in the tender documents and contracts, as applicable and made clear to all project workers