Industry licensing and regulation will be more streamlined and there will be a greater focus on sites posing higher environmental risks, as a result of a Department of Environment and Conservation industry reform program.
DEC Environmental Regulation manager Philip Hine said the major components of the reform process were to reassess the prescribed premises category under the Environmental Protection Act, thoroughly review existing licences, and improve the application of industry regulation through system improvements and staff training.
"Our greatest task is to reduce the number of prescribed premises by removing industries posing less environmental risk from the prescribed premises list and give more attention to higher-risk sites," Mr Hine said.
"Smaller industries that pose lower environmental risks will be managed through the general provisions under the Act such as field notices, infringements and, in more serious cases, prosecutions for environmental harm or pollution. In addition, some circumstances regulations may be used to replace a prescribed category.
"Significant environmental risks are generally associated with larger industries, therefore we'll be applying to those sites more formal regulatory and enforcement tools, such as works approvals and licences."
High level technical, monitoring, quality assurance and audit requirements would also apply.
Mr Hine said there would be a stronger focus on site visits and inspections of smaller industries to ensure a high visible presence in the community.
"These changes will also meet community expectations about monitoring industry behaviour," he said.
At the same time, the DEC was looking to create more effective partnerships with other regulators.
Overlap and duplication with other regulatory bodies such as Department of Industry and Resources and local councils would also be reduced under the new system.
A series of forums have been held with industry groups in recent months to outline the changes.
