Should residents who live 1km from Port Botany hear
a forklift’s ‘beeper’ alarm?
Maybe communities as far away as 10km should be
alerted to its movements?
Residents in Matraville, Chifely, Phillip Bay, La Perouse, Little Bay, Malabar, Maroubra, Hillsdale, Banksmeadow, Botany and Kyeemagh have all reported hearing the ‘beeper’ alarms from Port Botany (click here to listen to a 1min recording captured on a very basic camera). And while minimising some of the noises generated by port activities may prove more challenging than others, a ‘beeper’ alarm is not one of them!
Of course noise impacts are dependent on weather conditions, however it is obvious from the map above that regardless of wind direction, the irritation caused by a ‘beeper’ alarm is likely to be felt by someone. As for the frequency, a conservative estimate suggests it would not be unreasonable to hear 2880 instances of a ‘beeper’ alarm in a 24 hour period.
Are there safe alternatives? Yes!
This document reviwing the alternatives was published only two years ago by the then Department of Enviroment, Climate Change and Water (now the Office of Environment and Heritage). It evaluates several alternatives which are safe and significantly impact neighbourhoods less than the exisiting old and out-dated analogue alarm.
So what can we do?
Earlier this year, Matraville Precinct submitted comment to both the Model Safe Work Australia review and the National Land Freight Strategy. We took this opportunity to highlight the unreasonableness of the impacts the ‘beeper’ alarms have on the well-being of our community.
At Precinct meetings, the increase in port noise felt by residents has been discussed at length, with many of us regularly emailing Randwick City Council with our concerns and calling Sydney Ports to notify them of their impact.
As a result, at the Tuesday 23 August Ordinary Council meeting, Randwick City Council’s Mayor put forward a Mayoral Minute (Noise – Port Botany Development) recommending:
- That Council write to the NSW State Government and request that a detailed acoustic assessment be undertaken by the State Government encompassing all Port related development, in consultation with OEH, Randwick and Botany Councils.
- Council write to Sydney Ports and the proposed operators of the new Port facility to liaise and consult in the preparation of the Operational Noise Management Plan, in accordance with the conditions of consent.
Matraville Precinct welcomes this development and hopes that Council are able to affect change.
Matraville Precinct would like to emphasise the importance for all residents to, when necessary call Sydney Ports Harbour Master on 9296 4000 (24 hours) to notify them of their impact. Sydney Ports frequently remind us that if we don’t notify them at the time of the impact then the task of identifying the origin becomes much greater.
Please add your comments below and together we will make a difference.
Case study
‘Beeper’ alarms used on vehicles at ANL (Australian Native Landscapes) in Ryde could be heard 10km away, for the very nominal amount of $800 each vehicle’s alarm was converted to what is sometimes referred to as a ‘quacker’ which is more directional and therefore of less impact on neighbours. We applaud ANL for acting to improve the environment and well-being of the communities in which it neighbours.
18/05/2012 at 1:14 pm 
17/05/2012 at 10:53 pm 
29/04/2012 at 10:02 pm 
One of the big problems is presenting information on the number of people affected. Sydney Ports can facilitate better reporting by encouraging residents to register complaints on a free hotline as well as an easily accessed webpage. This could be advertised within other Port related advertisements/announcements in the Southern Courier. Information gathered should be published in reports and easily accessed on the Ports website. Both Botany Bay and Randwick council could have a noise reporting page on their respective websites to deal with this and other disturbances. We also need to build up a picture of the cumulative noise impacts in our communities. The EPA(within OEH), as regulators, need to step up and the Department of Health should also be involved as well as Workcover. We need better monitoring and better reporting of how measurements are taken and how thresholds are determined. This is a health issue leading to stress, sleep deprivation and other problems which can be quantified in terms of lost work hours and other negative externalities.
If the Port operations are licensed by the EPA, shouldn’t you be registering complaints with them via their hotline 131 555? If they (the EPA) have a record of complaints they might make considerations when the license is due for renewal.
Robyn, Thanks, and yes it’s important to keep the EPA well informed of the cumulative impacts on the South East however, having just called the 131 555 number to clarify a couple of things, I would add that the primary reason for calling the Harbour Master on 9296 4000 is because they now reside at Port Botany and when you notify them of their impact, they investigate its origins which is really important when trying to identify a noisy ship. The EPA aren’t able to that 24/7. Also, there are many many licenses for Port Botany and Sydney Ports act as a overseeing body and are required each quarter, to submit a report detailing community complaints.
Not much chance that I’ll be run over by a forklift from the wharves whilst I’m trying to sleep in bed….no way should I be hearing the beeper from Little Bay..or containers dropping!
Hi Robyn,
Re: EPA Hotline. Check out what the Auditor-General said last September about the inadequacy of this – http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/publications/reports/performance/2010/epa/media_release_epa.pdf Full report – http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/publications/reports/performance/2010/epa/epa.pdf
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