Well done to IECA and DETSI QLD for the funding and initiative to update the BPESC document. Thank you to SEEC for the update. I'm sure Bill and the team put in way more time and effort on this than the budget allowed. Thank you for acknowledging the incredible effort and generosity of Grant Witheridge that prepared this document in the first place. The genesis of the BPESC document was the Erosion and Sediment Control Guidelines for QLD that was published back in 1994. According to Grant, funds from the sale of that guideline were supposed to be retained by IE Aust to develop the BPESC document but this never occurred and Grant did all this work for no reward. When Grant first approached me as the then Australasian President to see if IECA to see if we would publish the guideline I could see no downside to this but interestingly there was a lot of push back from the Directors that had strong ties to Landcom, 2004 (the Blue book). Fortunately thanks to the support of Bill Gardyne, we convinced the Board of IECA to take on publication of the document and the rest is history. Bill and I were adamant that we should try to compensate Grant for all of his work which resulted in a reasonable portion of the sale of every hard copy going back to Grant. In the webinar Terry mentioned the mining and other industries adopting BPESC. Unfortunately none of the construction ESC guideline in Australia address the erosion risk associated with mining landforms adequately. Recently the QLD Mine Rehabilitation Commissioner published a guideline prepared by Rob Loch on Leading practice guidance on erosion and landform evolution modelling to design post-mining landforms. You can download it here https://www.qmrc.qld.gov.au/research/final-landforms/design. Interestingly Rob points out some of the fundamental flaws and inaccuracies in RUSLE that we so heavily rely on to assess erosion hazard and the need for sediment basins. I urge you to take the time to download and read the document.
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Michael Frankcombe CPESC, CESSWI
Rehabilitation and Closure Specialist
Aurelia Metals
Rathmines NSW
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Original Message:
Sent: Jan 18, 2026 09:01 PM
From: Sandra Lanz
Subject: BPESC update webinar recording
IECA Australasia recently hosted a panel webinar discussing the updated Best Practice Erosion & Sediment Control for building and construction sites (BPESC). A recording of the webinar can be found in the Australasia Chapter website library or via the following link:
BPESC webinar update recording - Jan 2026
BPESC webinar update presentation slides - Jan 2026
A big thank you to Dallas Frazier, Andrew Macleod, Bill Johnson and Terry Clark for giving their time to be part of the panel.
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Sandra Lanz
Operations Manager – Australasia Office
IECA
Picton NSW
+61 413 296 449
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