Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

agreements require that government must approve EMPRs prior
to the commencement of operations.
� Communication/training – a strong emphasis is placed on open
communication and consultation with interested and affected
parties. These include internal stakeholders and external ones
such as fishermen, government officials, and representatives
from local development organisations, scientists and
conservationists. Employees receive specific training and
general environmental awareness material including magazines,
notice boards and an intranet site that is available to the vessels
via satellite link. This site includes all documentation necessary
for the EMS. External feedback and comment is obtained
through a variety of formal and informal fora;
� Impacts, management plans, procedures and environmental
objectives – following approval of an EMPR, an impact register
is drawn up for each concession area, with a management plan
for addressing specific bio-physical and socio-economic
environmental issues. Operational, monitoring and emergency
procedures are in place to ensure impacts are minimised.
Objectives and targets are set annually to drive continual
improvement in environmental management;
� Corrective action – standards are maintained through recording
of deviations and corrective actions. Safety and environmental
incidents are recorded via an integrated system. Root causes of
incidents are identified and remedial action taken;
� Environmental auditing and review – DBM has implemented a
three tier audit process:
� Monthly internal audits – self-checking at each site/ship;
� Quarterly Environmental Management Team audits to
verify monthly reports with twice-yearly checks at each
site/ship;
� The South African Bureau of Standards, the certificating
body, conducts six-monthly external surveillance audits to
review different elements of the EMS.
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 626