This assignment is based on Australian and state of Queensland legislation, associated legislation and local laws. Please note that you will find all the Queensland legislation on www. legislation. qld. gov. au You will find the Caloundra city council local laws on www. caloundra. qld. gov. au Caloundra city council is a part of Queensland. Also the above websites are the only limit, please research yourself and identify different pieces of legislation and identify relevant sections of the legislation for the scenario below. Do not copy exact words from the legislation, but summarise them.
Please include a contents page, mention references wherever necessary, i. e. the legislation and input the references at the end, i. e. all the legislation you have notified. I will include the instructions in my personal account page. It is 10 January 2008 and you work for Caloundra City Council (now part of the Sunshine Coast Regional Council) as an Environmental Health Officer (EHO). You have received a complaint from a resident who advises that a foul odour has been emanating from their neighbour’s property for approximately two weeks. You visit the property.
The occupier explains that she is aware of the odour, but can’t afford to fix the problem because she is a single mother of two children (2yrs and 5yrs) and has recently lost her job. The occupier gives you approval to enter the back yard where you find a large pool of stagnant liquid. The liquid is dark in colour with an oily film on the surface and there is a distinctive strong odour present. You assume that it is sewage. There is a mass of flies around the stagnant liquid and maggots are present in large numbers along the muddy edge of the liquid.
You involve a Council Plumbing Inspector who flushes a colored dye down the toilet, which later appears in the pool of liquid in the back yard. The Plumbing Inspector believes tree roots have blocked the sewerage pipes. Your investigation also reveals that each day after the family showers, the existing pool of liquid overflows and runs down hill into a creek which is located directly behind the property. The creek level is currently quite low and is barely flowing. As a result, the sewage is gathering in one part of the creek. A few properties down-stream have permits to extract the water from the creek and use it for irrigation.
If it rains, the raw sewage will be flushed down-stream and into a water-hole where children regularly swim. A search of the Council rates database identifies the owner of the property. Council records indicate that the owner lives in Melbourne. When you return to the property, the occupier refuses you entry and states that if she helps you further or if the Council does anything because she has already let you in once, the owner will not renew her lease which expires in four weeks and because she has lost her job she can’t afford to move.
Use the legal frameworks provided by the Public Health Act 2005, Environmental Protection Act 1994, Local Government Act 1993 and the associated subordinate legislation including relevant local laws, to investigate and resolve the scenario detailed above. Please compare and contrast the frameworks provided under each piece of legislation, ensuring that you identify all relevant sections of the legislation. You are then required to determine the most appropriate method of dealing with this situation and describe that process in detail, from first entering the property through to finalising the matter.
You are to clearly explain your decision-making process, including what factors you considered and the reasons why you made each decision. You will also need to provide timeframes you decide are appropriate for the formal action undertaken (e. g. compliance times for notices etc. ) and provide a rationale for these timeframes. In the above mentioned case, in the jurisdiction of Caloundra City Council, which belongs to the Sunshine Coast Regional Council, the Environmental Health Officer receives a complaint from a resident that there is a constant bad odour released in the area from one of the sewers of a neighbour.
As a part of his job, the EHO visit the site to determine the extent and cause of the problem. The EHO takes the permission from one of the resident to enter the property and is given full cooperation. The resident is staying in a rented quarters. She demonstrates that there is a problem with the sewer and that she is more or less helpless with it as she is the mother of two small children and has recently lost her job. The accumulation of sewage water in the backyard is causing a huge health hazard and a nuisance to the residents of the neighbourhood.
It is emitting a bad stink in the area and is also posing a breeding ground for flies, mosquitoes and maggots. The sewage water appears dark in colour and has a sickening oily appearance on its surface. One of the plumbing staff is involved in the exercise to determine from where the sewage water is emitted, and he flushed a dye from the house to find that it appears in the pool of sewage water. He also suggests that the water in the sewage pipe is blocked by the roots of the trees in the backyard, and this permits it to leak in the backyard.
The occupant also suggests that she is unable to repair it as she is the mother of two small children and has recently lost her job. On further probe, the EHO finds that the sewage water accumulation is a further health problem and is polluting the water of a nearby creek that is utilised to irrigate farmlands. When the family uses the bathroom, the water in the sewage increases, and the sewage water flows downwards into a creek. The water from the creek is used for irrigation purposes and the neighbourhood children also use it to take a dip.
The EHO searches for the owner from the council database and finds that he is a resident of Melbourne. The EHO decides to perform further examination of the area, but this time the resident does not permit him into the area as according to her she has already permitted them to enter the premises once. The resident will also have to leave the residence shortly as the owner will not renew her rental contract with her further as she has lost her job.