Home » Home
Home

Environmental Legal Services was established in June 1999 to assist our clients with the identification, interpretation, implementation and compliance with environmental, health & safety and employment legislation. Our vision is to provide our clients with the necessary knowledge to identify, interpret and apply environmental, health & safety and employment legal requirements and to effectively contribute to global sustainable development and sound management practices.  

     
Environmental, Health and Safety Legal Services
     
General Environmental, Health & Safety and Labour Legal Compliance Audits    Consultations and Legal Opinions

General Legal Compliance Audits on Environment, Health and Safety and Employment Law principles can be conducted separately or combined and/or combined with any other Internal or External Audits. All applicable national, provincial and local legal requirements will be assessed and detailed Reports provided, indicating the status of compliance, as well as recommended actions to achieve compliance.

  
We are consulted on a wide range of topics in the Environmental, Employment as well as Health & Safety fields and we provide formal legal opinions where interpretation or the manner of compliance is unclear or in dispute.  We are also involved in risk management and the identification of various scenarios and options available to a company in respect of anticipated projects or actions or in respect of existing conditions requiring immediate rectification.  These services are available at an agreed hourly rate.
Legal Registers (Environmental, Health & Safety and Labour Law)   Corporate Standards and Strategic Planning

We provide web based site specific Environmental, Health and Safety and Labour Legal Registers which contain national, provincial, as well as local legislation and are updated on a continuous basis. Easy access to subjects and detailed interpretation is provided to assist the user with implementation of the legal principles.

  
We have been involved in the development of corporate standards, codes and procedures based on environmental, health & safety and employment law, to assist employers in establishing guidelines for a Company or Group of Companies as a whole. We are also involved in strategic planning sessions in the course of which challenges and non-conformances are identified, corrective actions and controls are discussed and strategies developed to ensure conformity and legal compliance within the Group or Company.
Specific Legal Training    Consolidated Compliance Programmes


Our clients prefer on site legal training that is developed to suit the client’s specific needs.  In some instances courses or workshops cover all the relevant legislative requirements. In other instances our services are retained to address specific aspects and/or the latest legislative developments. Photographs taken during audits are included in the training modules upon request, to assist employees with the interpretation of their legal responsibilities. We are also requested to provide briefings on draft or imminent legislation to ensure that strategic planning is in place prior to commencement

    Some companies have been issued with various Environmental Authorizations some of which contain contradictory, overlapping, unreasonable and/or irrelevant conditions. Our assistance has been required to develop a Consolidated Compliance Programme. All the legal requirements are consolidated into one document and compliance programmes are developed for each subject in need of attention. Reference is made to the applicable condition in the authorization to ensure that the specific condition is readily available.
     
 Authorization Specific Internal and External Compliance Audits  


As part of self-regulation and to assist Government with verifying compliance to Authorisations issued in terms of various laws, most of the Authorisations require internal and external compliance audits at specific intervals with submission of Audit Reports to the specific Authority.  Environmental Legal Services is able and capable to conduct any internal or external compliance audit on Authorisations, which include, but are not limited to:
 Environmental Audits (Performance Assessment) on EMPr’s    Environmental Authorisation (EA)


Environmental Audits (Performance Assessment) on EMPr’s issued in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 or National Environmental Management Act, 1998;

   Environmental Authorisation (EA) issued in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998;
Integrated Water Use Licence (IWUL)    Waste Management Licence (WML)
Integrated Water Use Licence (IWUL) issued in terms of the National Water Act, 1998;  

 
Waste Management Licence (WML) issued in terms of National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008;
Atmospheric Emission Licence (AEL)    


Atmospheric Emission Licence (AEL) issued in terms of National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004;

    
Web based Compliance Management Systems

 
Modern times require modern solutions, paper systems are becoming obsolete and clients require real time access. Monitoring compliance to the Environmental Authorisations (EA’s), Integrated Water Use Licences (IWUL’s), Waste Management Licences (WML’s), Atmospheric Emission Licences (AEL’s), Environmental Management Programmes (EMPr’s) and other Permits on site, proves a tedious task. Our solution is a web based Compliance Obligation Management System that monitors the organization’s real time compliance to all Environmental, as well as Health and Safety Licences, Permits, EMPr’s and other authorisations.