ENVENGEO employs experienced, qualified staff, some of whom are members of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ) and the Australian Land and Groundwater Association (ALGA), bodies that assist consultants to develop and maintain the skills and experience necessary to navigate environmental project challenges among other benefits.

 

The Director of ENVENGEO is also a member of the EIANZ board and is a suitably qualified person (SQP) in Queensland as defined in the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (QLD).

​

The term SQP refers to a definition in the EP Act 1994 (QLD) that requires regulatory functions to be carried out by a suitably qualified person (SQP).  The following information relates to SQPs performing the following regulatory functions in relation to contaminated land:
• Conducting a site investigation of a site listed on either the Environmental Management Register or Contaminated Land Register.
• Preparing a validation report.
• Drafting a site management plan or amendment of a site management plan.

​

SQP are required to be a member of a prescribed organisation (as outlined in the Environmental Protection Regulation 1994 (QLD)) and possess qualifications and experience relevant to the regulatory function undertaken on a particular site. 

​

A suitably qualified person has the following responsibilities leading up to and making a submission:

• Analysing the site in accordance with step two of Part 2 of this guidance to identify knowledge areas outside of their experience and qualifications, triggering the need to form a professional support team.

• Selecting appropriately qualified and experienced professionals to address the issues identified on the site.

• Assessing the completeness of the scope of the work done by professional support team members and the results their work provides. This includes ensuring that best-practice methodology and analysis are used by the professional support team member to deliver on their agreed scope of work.

• Providing recommendations and content in a submission. The SQP takes responsibility for the recommendations and contents of a submission by signing an accompanying statutory declaration. Recommendations made in a submission may be based on advice from a professional support team member.

• Ensuring professional support team members responsible for providing the submission, comply with the requirements of a SQP for that area in which they are an expert for. All professional team members must complete a declaration in support of all the work they did toward the assessment and/or remediation of a site.

• Where an auditor or the department have been engaged, ensuring that sufficient information has been provided for the auditor to evaluate the submission against the prescribed criteria.

 

Further information can be obtained from the Department of Environment and Science fact sheet at: https://environment.des.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0030/89823/cl-gl-assessing-suitably-qualified-person.pdf 

​