MCU14/0028 Appendix 3 chicken-meat-guidelines

5.0         Operational and management considerations
This section details the operational and environmental management considerations when
assessing a development application for a meat chicken farm and attaching environmental
conditions to a development approval. It also provides applicants with a guideline for operating and
managing a meat chicken farm.

5.1         Environmental Management Plan
All meat chicken farms should develop and implement site-based EMPs that will aim to minimise
the potential for operational impact on the surrounding environmental values and the amenity of
neighbouring communities.

The Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) has produced a national
Environmental Management System (EMS) for the meat chicken industry with an example and
explanatory notes for developing an EMP. The EMS should only be considered as a starting point
and application of such framework will need to further articulate site-specific considerations as well
as identifying assumptions supporting air quality or acoustic modelling assessment.

The EMP is a formal commitment that all reasonable and practical efforts will be made to operate
the meat chicken farm in an environmentally sustainable manner. The EMP provides a system for
documenting:
 environmental hazards and risks of the meat chicken farm
 how these risks will be minimised by design and management strategies
 the process for monitoring the effectiveness of the design and management strategies
 how the results of the monitoring will be reported.

    Performance criteria                             Acceptable outcomes
    P1                                               A1
    Documentation must demonstrate that the          A site-specific EMP is developed by the farm
    environmental risks of the meat chicken farm     owner/manager and implemented in
    development have been identified and             accordance with the National Environmental
    appropriate design and management                Management System for the Meat Chicken
    measures have been considered and will be        Industry. The EMP must include:
    implemented to minimise the risks and             an assessment of environmental and
    impacts to the environment.                          community health risks
                                                      strategies and measures for minimising
                                                         environmental and community health
                                                         risks and contingency actions for
                                                         managing problems that may arise
                                                      planned courses of action in cases of
                                                         incidents or emergencies relating to all
                                                         significant risks, including unexpected
                                                         increased odour emissions, a high
                                                         incidence of bird deaths, disease
                                                         outbreaks and fire, in accordance with
                                                         risk management principles.

                                                     A2
                                                     The EMP is maintained and updated as
                                                     required by the farm owner/manager and is
                                                     available for inspection by the relevant
                                                     regulatory authority.


Queensland Guidelines Meat Chicken Farms                                                      24