“I like helping others”
Of this experience, “about 30% was on
mines”, and in her subsequent career
specialising in this area, a good proportion
of her current clients are mines. She
continues her professional environmental
legal practice, in which the About Face
function now forms an integral part.
“For the past 25 years, I’ve been
working full time at helping companies
improve their environmental compliance,
covering the full spectrum of industries.
What attracted me to the About Face job
is that I enjoy helping people and Nico
[Pienaar] and Aspasa are highly focused
www.quarryonline.co.za
on supporting their members, too. The
audit is not about coming in and simply
finding fault like an enforcement officer.”
This element aligns with how she prefers to
conduct an audit — and will continue, she
says. She will also add to the service with
her experience as a lawyer, demystifying
environmental law.
“They won’t have to pick up the phone to
call a lawyer, conscious all the while that the
clock is ticking (and the bill). I have realised
throughout my 25 years’ experience that
most companies have a tick-box approach
to environmental auditing, which looks
good on paper but is never implemented.
I want to spend my time helping them
successfully implement their documented
systems.
“There is a mixed bag of how companies
(not talking solely of quarries) approach
compliance. Some take it seriously but
struggle to implement it on the ground as
they are not always sure what to do and
wary at the huge expenditure. What often
stalls a company’s implementation is that
they are not always sure if what they are
doing is the most cost-effective solution. It
is a complex subject matter that they require
help with,” says Van der Walt. She notes that
there are also quite a few companies “that
are not yet interested”.
Looking forward to the
challenge
The physical rigour of the job does not
deter Van der Walt. It is sometimes said it is
not a job for a woman, driving and walking
often long distances, but she explains she
has already done it most of her life and in
fact, thrives on it. “It’s nice to get out of the
office part of the month!”
Van der Walt says she is conscious
that the About Face audit process is a
collaborative approach involving educating
quarry owners as to their strengths and
weaknesses, and she will not be there
“to ruffle feathers”, though the audit will
be independent and fair. “Certainly, a
challenge will be to identify within a single
day the pertinent challenges on each
quarry that will materially improve their
compliance, given About Face is a rigorous
and time-consuming process.”
Quarry managers will be wary that the
advent of a new auditor does not affect their
rating. Van der Walt says she understands
such a concern and is aware that
consistency is vital to quarries. “The current
ratings reveal a high level of compliance,
but if there is any difference in standard
— and I’m not claiming there is — the gap
will be closed softly and over time. That
V
an der Walt has extensive
experience in environmental
management and environmental
law, having run her own business
specialising in these areas for 25 years.
An admitted attorney, she was never
the ‘indoors’ type. Early on as a lawyer
she realised that she was in the wrong
profession and that her passion was for
the outdoors and conservationism instead,
having spent much of her youth on farms
and the bush. “I was exposed to many
pristine areas in the lowveld, and I became
very interested in the ecological functioning
of rivers in particular and the sensitivity of
ecological systems.”
Her initial grounding is in litigation,
property, and commercial law, subsequently
moving into environmental law, focusing
on due diligence investigations, providing
legal opinions on enviro-legal matters,
and commentary on various public
sector initiatives and policy documents.
Her professional qualifications include a
B.Iuris and LLB, both from Unisa. She was
admitted as an attorney in 1996, and her
existing practice today is equally divided
between legal advice and audit, and
environmental training.
Van der Walt bridged over from law to
environmental auditing through many
years conducting SABS audits. “When I
realised law was not the profession for me,
I nonetheless appreciated the grounding in
logic which law had given me and decided
I could still find a niche in environmental
law. When in 1996 SABS adopted the
ISO 14000 programme, I accepted a
subcontracted position to conduct the legal
component of the audits.”
This was prime experience for anyone
interested in an environmental career,
exposing her to audits of every type of
industry. “With hindsight, it was a blessing
that I acquired so much exposure in such a
relatively short period of time,” she says.
FACE TO FACE
Lizette van der Walt is the new Aspasa About
Face environmental auditor.
should be my challenge — not the quarry
managers’.”
With her considerable background
in training, Van der Walt says feedback
to quarry management will direct them
to what training courses they ought to
attend and any weaknesses or gaps in
knowledge she identifies. From this she will
recommend to Aspasa areas of training she
believes should be emphasised. She will
limit her training to the audit function,
given Aspasa is working with another
law firm, IMBEWU Sustainability Law
Specialists, to develop an Internet-based
safety, health, and environmental legal
register for aggregate, sand, and other
surface mining operations.
When she arrives on site, Van der Walt
wants management to consider her “one
of the head office staff ”, to treat her as
such, and to be receptive to her advice
as if she were their internal lawyer. She
has insight into what external auditors
and government inspectors are looking
for and will be able to advise quarries on
what to prepare for. “For instance, last year
we saw small administrative oversights
being heavily punished. A 10-day delay in
submitting an atmospheric license renewal
application in one instance was punished
with a R1-million fine by the relevant
district municipality’s air quality officer. I
am hoping that this perspective will add
value and will make my visits beneficial and
worthwhile,” she adds.
“Ideally, I want to instil in them that they
have someone on their side who knows
more about these matters than they do,”
concludes Van der Walt.
QUARRY SA | MARCH/APRIL 2019_27