The Rhodes remediation project centred on a 16-hectare former chemical manufacturing site in Rhodes, NSW. Due to potential public health impacts, the project had a high community and media profile from the outset.

Remediation activity produces dust, noise, vibration and odours, impacting local residents and businesses.

The nature of the contamination required careful management of health and environmental risk over almost six years. This called for deliberate and careful communication with the community about how risks were being managed and mitigated. 

Working with the experts to communicate

In conjunction with relevant NSW health services and public health risk consultants, we developed several strategies to support the community through the project.

• We emailed odour alerts to registered recipients, giving them the option to leave the area during activity that might cause odour.
• Along with health experts, we visited individuals who submitted concerns about health risks to explain how we were monitoring and reducing risk, and what to do if they had further concerns.
• We presented information packs to stakeholder groups, including local businesses, telling them how we were addressing risk, and explaining our environmental monitoring program for odours and other hazards.
• We provided regular, targeted communications for health and safety and human resource managers of nearby businesses, including Nestle and Hewlett Packard, enabling them to share information with employees.

By taking a comprehensive and proactive approach, we minimised community concerns and complaints across the project lifecycle.