Environmental, Social, Health and Safety (ESHS)
Achieving project goals by managing ESHS impacts
The environmental and social dimension of energy infrastructure projects is becoming increasingly important in our times. The demand for sustainable solutions continues to grow significantly around the globe.
Due to its long-standing practical experience in power sector projects, intec is in a unique position to understand the impacts of energy projects on the environment throughout their full life cycle. We work closely with societies in developing solutions that respect the natural and human environment and that also safeguard occupational/community health and safety.
intec provides the full range of environment, social, health and safety (ESHS) related consultancy services. This starts from environmental and social impact assessments, resettlement and compensation studies, health and safety studies as well as other ESHS related preparatory studies needed before project implementation starts. It continues with supervising project implementation and thereby verifying compliance with the relevant ESHS requirements. Additionally, our consultancy services include monitoring of ESHS compliance during operation until decommissioning. We perform this in the entire power sector with a focus on transmission, distribution and renewable based power generation.
intec respects the highest standards of environmental and social, health and safety requirements. Our ESHS expert team has long-standing international experience in projects sponsored by the financing institutions like KfW, WB and others in East/South East Europe, Africa, Asia, Middle East and Latin America.
Environmental impact assessments are not only a planning tool necessary for project permitting but also an opportunity to integrate the project in its surrounding environment and build lasting relationships with the receiving communities.
intec provides a wide range of environmental services related in the entire power sector with a focus on transmission, distribution and renewable based power generation. Our services include environmental due diligence, environmental appraisal of project alternatives, environmental scoping exercises, environmental and social impact assessments (ESIA), regulatory gap analyses, ecological field surveys, environmental management plans; ESMPs and last but not leas and ESAPs elaboration or review and last but not least ESMP and ESAPs implementation monitoring and supervision.
Through lasting relationships with local actors, we are able to build and effectively manage multidisciplinary teams of specialists able to address all environmental aspects of energy projects and respond to the challenges of working environments in developing countries all around the world.
The welfare of project host communities receives increasing attention from international project sponsors and is recognised as a key factor for successful implementation. Through conscious design of our (renewable based) power generation, transmission and distribution projects, we make sure that the benefits of electrification are shared among societies and all affected people are better off following project completion.
Socioeconomic assessments form part of intec’s core activities. The relevant services include social due diligence, identification of project affected people (PAP), census surveys of PAPs, assessment of social impacts, preparation, implementation of livelihood restoration frameworks (LRF) and resettlement action plans (RAP), stakeholder engagement and grievance mechanisms, gender studies.
At intec, we pay particular attention to understanding and respecting local cultural specificities. This is built into all project planning. At the same time, we are particularly sensitive in supporting human rights, gender equality and the rights of vulnerable and marginalised people; values that also form the core of international project sponsors’ social policies.
At intec, Health & Safety considerations are an integral project component at two levels: Occupational health and safety during project preparation and construction, as well as community health and safety during construction and operation. H&S impact assessment and mitigation measures are integrated into ESIA studies while we develop health and safety plans. We then supervise their effective implementation during construction.
Our strong practical background and experience on the ground helps us to understand how projects are implemented. It also allows us to identify and assess hazards to occupational health and safety. This often involves working in harsh climatic conditions and difficult terrains requiring innovative technical solutions. Through careful planning, we help our clients reduce accident and incident rates, achieve their H&S targets and minimise impacts on the human environment.
H&S of the local communities in our project areas is of paramount importance. Through stakeholder engagement and participatory planning, we are able to duly assess project - induced hazards to local people – ranging from atmospheric pollution and noise to traffic, labour influx and exposure to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) – and install culturally-appropriate preventive and mitigation measures to address them. During construction supervision, we are there in person to oversee that project planning is realised.
At intec, we believe that technology, management insight and corporate practices must go hand in hand to unlock the full business value of sustainability. Our services focus on helping clients and other project stakeholders to integrate sustainability into their core business decision-making processes and culture.
intec works with its clients in assessing their capacity with respect to ESHS dimensions of their project design, construction and operation. As appropriate, we develop and implement capacity-strengthening programmes aiming to improving their institutional strengthening and capacity building on all aspects of environment, social, health and safety. These programmes are tailored to their specific needs and taking into consideration cultural specificities and operational constraints.