Quarry Southern Africa March 2019 | Page 29

“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