The three Ps for specifying work at contaminated sites

by arslan_ahmed | April 7, 2023 10:00 am

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  By Joanna Wcislo

When a specifier must develop specifications for a remedial design project, there are certain things that should come to mind for successful completion of the project. A remedial design must consider contaminants generating pollution as a result of historical human activity (whether industrial, commercial, agricultural, etc.) which caused the initial problem, leading to the remediation and construction activity, as well as potential human health and environmental impacts during implementation of the remedy.

Contaminated site remediation projects can involve a wide variety of contaminants (e.g. petroleum hydrocarbons, metals, volatile and semi-volatile compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and other contaminants.

Ontario’s Environmental Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.19, generally defines “contaminants” as “any solid, liquid, gas, odour, heat, sound, vibration, radiation, or combination of any of them resulting directly or indirectly from human activities that causes or may cause an adverse effect.”¹

In addition, the contaminants may be in different media such as soil, groundwater, surface water, sediment, or air; and some or all of the contaminated media may be classified as hazardous or non-hazardous waste in accordance with local provincial regulations such as Ontario’s RR.O. 1990, Reg. 347, General waste management. It is critical to have experts who are fluent in remedial design, permitting and implementation, to develop remedial projects as key team members. This article will guide an architect, engineer, contractor, or specifier on what a proper remediation specification should include. It will focus on specifying remedial design projects and how best practices, defined by three Ps (planning, parameters, practicality) can be most effectively applied. Although the exampled provincial regulations are given for projects based in Ontario, the same principles can be applied to remediation projects in other provinces/territories.

Planning

The first “P,” planning can give foresight into a project. Knowing information gathered during site environmental and non-environmental (e.g. geotechnical) assessments and investigations; human health and ecological risk assessments; remedial technology pilot testing; remedial action plans (RAP); and permitting and approval requirements can substantially help in the development of specification and will subsequently affect how smoothly a project will go once remediation begins. Having well-versed experts on the team ensures the right plans are made at the right time, and timely permits and approvals are received.

It is also required to identify and communicate these plans with authorities having jurisdiction (AHJ) for the anticipated remedial activities to obtain permits and approvals. AHJs must be notified of potential or known hazards in accordance with local provincial/territorial regulations. For instance, Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), Ontario Regulation (O.Reg.) 213/91, Construction Projects, Section 26 for “falling into or onto a hazardous substance or object,”² and further in Sections 51-53: Accident Notices and Reports. Hazardous conditions shall only be verified by a competent person, in accordance with local regulations such as O. Reg. 213/91, Section 14 (5). Designated substances and other hazardous materials (DSHMs), including asbestos and other DSHMs are defined by local provincial/territorial regulatory requirements, such as OHSA’s O. Reg. 278/05, Designated Substance–Asbestos on Construction Projects and In Buildings and Repair Operations, in Ontario. Each province has its own Environmental Protection Act; for Ontario, the Ontario EPA is the primary legislation governing pollution control and prohibiting discharges to the natural environment that cause an adverse impact, as well as providing permits. However, these regulations do not detail how to design and implement remedial projects.

Communication also raises awareness of typical permitting timelines during the design phase, where some of these can take place, such as requesting a sewer discharge permit from a local municipal authority such as a Permit to Take Water (PTTW) from the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP). Although the contractor is typically required to identify and plan any communication with local AHJs and regulatory agencies, who often have the responsibly to make various approvals (usually based on criteria submitted by the contractor to the owner’s consultant), it is imperative for the specifier to be initially aware of regulatory expectations. Communication with the AHJs can save valuable time in execution and allow accurate pricing during the bidding period.

RAP usually describe site conditions, remedial objectives, and which permits and approvals are required to implement a project. Regulatory permits and municipal approval requirements often identify plans to be included in bid documents for various phases of a project (e.g. pre-remediation, post-remediation, or monitoring phases). Requirements for the contractor to create and submit an appropriate plan, as discussed in this article, are strongly recommended as project specifications. Some plans also require regulatory approval or permit issuances results; these are required prior to project implementation, when the remediation activity considered is implemented. A listing of remediation-related plans to consider may be found in Appendix A on page 3.

Contractor-prepared and submitted plans provide the basis for remedial site implementation practices that are consistent with the remedial design or approved RAP. Typically, the owner’s consultant has created the remediation design, the contractor develops a remediation plan based on the design and acquires any permits required to implement the plan, although some permits need to be in place long before remediation occurs—for example, a PTTW to sample during geotechnical testing, long before the design is conceptualized.

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Parameters

Parameters is the second “P” for specifying work at contaminated sites. Knowing the project’s regulatory parameters is essential to allow for the preparation of complete, concise, and co-ordinated bidding documents. If performing a project in jurisdictions where there are applicable local regulations, bylaws, guidelines or policies, the project must comply with these regulations and clearly convey their requirements in the bid documents. Sometimes the owner will be a large enough entity to warrant its own set of local regulations that will apply to their project only, for instance, mining reclamation projects involving the process of restoring land to its original condition (prior to beginning mining activities) typically consist of water treatment for settling ponds, backfilling open pits, removal of tailing piles, and so forth. These reclamation projects are often susceptible to the mining company’s policies and procedures, making it easy for the contractor to identify what can and cannot be performed at the site. Reclamation parameters may also be provided by a local work order—often referred to as an enforcement or consent order—which will outline the timelines a project must abide by, with penalties that can be incurred for failure to comply.

Many remediation projects require the importing clean soils for backfill, and the qualification of the source of the imported fill must also be specified. The specifier must specify imported fill material which is obtained from a provincially acceptable or Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) licensed facility; or require submission of environmental reports to ensure the imported materials meet MECP soil, groundwater, and sediment standards in accordance with province-specific regulations such as O. Reg. 153/04, Record of Site Conditions, and/or O. Reg. 406/19, On-Site and Excess Soil Management and Ontario’s Rules for Soil Management and Excess Soil Quality Standards, 2020. Specification of specific regulatory compliance requirements in accordance with these regulations is critical for proper soil management such as source quality control (QC) and soil handling. The specifications must state the remedial design does not allow for “contaminated” soil to be introduced to a newly “clean” site in the project.

APPENDIX A: Remediation-related plans

Examples of plans to be outlined in the contract documents provided to the contractor for submission prior to mobilization can include: • Temporary traffic control plan to describe vehicle or pedestrian traffic, including temporary traffic signals, sequences of construction affecting the use of roadways, temporary access roads, road mats, provisions for decking over excavation, and phasing of operations to provide safe passages for pedestrians and vehicles if required. Further details can be found in the Ontario Traffic Manuals for Temporary Conditions. •Development, implementation, and maintenance of the contractor’s site-specific health and safety plan (HASP) detailing the practices and protocols to be followed by the contractor during the remedial project implementation is standard practice. It is the legal obligation of the owner to disclose any hazardous substances the contractor may encounter when working on a project. Based on this information, the contractor develops HASP, and should provide the owner’s consultant an opportunity to review and ensure important considerations are made on behalf of the contractor, for the sake of the owner’s responsibilities—this may be a driving force in phasing project sequencing decisions. Some of the key items required in a properly prepared HASP are as follows: ◦Establishment of work areas/zones, depending on the work activity and the sequence in which it is performed, such as the following can be considered:  Exclusion or “hot”* zone—Areas where hazardous or potentially hazardous contaminated soils, debris, and other materials are being, or may be contacted, disturbed, or handled; and areas where equipment or personnel travel are when working with contaminated materials. Exclusion zones are typically delineated with temporary fencing and warning signs to restrict access in efforts to reduce the spread of contamination. Contaminant reduction/“warm”* zone—Occurs at the interface of the exclusion zone and support zone. It provides for the prevailing upwind transfer of construction materials from the clean (off-site) to site dedicated equipment, the decontamination of equipment and vehicles prior to entering the support zone from the exclusion zone, the decontamination of personnel and clothing prior to entering the support zone from the exclusion zone, and the physical segregation of the support and exclusion zones. Support/“cold”* zone—A clearly delineated predominantly upwind area outside of the exclusion zone and contaminant reduction zone. Personnel protective levels and equipment. Personnel monitoring. Environmental monitoring. Reporting. • Site layout drawing which show an overall plan featuring existing facilities, proposed construction facilities, and temporary controls to be provided by contractor, including existing property lines, structures, roads, utilities, and other existing site features or facilities, temporary access roads and utilities to be constructed, field offices and sheds, the means of ingress, egress, and temporary traffic control facilities, equipment and material staging areas, and soil stockpile areas.The following are examples of other plans for which minimum requirements are provided in the specifications for preparation and submission by the contractor prior to initiation of project activities. • Soil erosion and sediment control plan to provide locations, design, and product names of features to reduce the risk of spreading contaminants to neighbouring sites, waterbodies, etc. • Air quality control plan to describe procedures that will be implemented to control odours and air emissions where required and to identify equipment, materials, standard operating procedures, and contingency procedures for control of odours and air emissions to mitigate airborne contaminants that may be disturbed during remedial activities. • Stormwater pollution prevention plan to describe existing and proposed site drainage and best management practices to be implemented to prevent contaminants from entering stormwater systems and the environment during construction. • Temporary wastewater treatment plan to describe the installation, operation, and maintenance of a temporary on-site wastewater treatment facility needed for treatment of wastewater generated during remediation to avoid contaminated water from being directly discharged from the site to adjacent water bodies. • Excavation plan to describe the methods, procedures, sequencing, and scheduling of excavation and backfilling in excavations areas, including allocated time required by the consultant and/or owner for sampling and an analysis of completed excavations (to determine levels of contamination, effectiveness of treatments, etc.) that will be the most appropriate for the project. • Material handling and on-site transportation plan to describe how contaminated and non-contaminated materials will be separately handled, staged, loaded, transported on-site, and how equipment will be decontaminated, including listing types and sizes of transport vehicles. The plan shall be designed so handling and transportation measures prevent the spread of contamination and ensure compliance with local restrictions. The plan shall be designed with traffic controls in compliance with applicable traffic regulations with respect to public roads, including flag persons and appropriate signage when vehicles are utilizing entrances to and from public roads. • Stabilization/solidification plan requirements for a limited, focused bench scale study to determine the most effective reagent and approach to stabilizing soil and sediments where this remedial technology is being implemented. The study shall evaluate locally available reagents typically used to stabilize and solidify soils and sediments; and it shall also evaluate various techniques and approaches to stabilize the soils and sediments and their associated costs. Reagents typically used for stabilization and solidification are fly ash, cement, hydrated lime, lime kiln dust, and cement kiln dust (CKD). • Transportation and off-site disposal plan to provide to relevant transporter and disposal facilities, including identification and regulatory classification and status, methods of transportation and disposal, contingency plans for spills during transportation, and schedules for transportation and disposal. Identification of facility specific requirements for waste characterization sampling and analyses to determine acceptance of the facility is also involved. The plan should also include local permits required when transporting hazardous materials on public roads. Work must comply with transportation requirements and must follow Transport Canada’s Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992 (TDGA), while waste management must comply with local provincial regulation such as R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 347, General–Waste Management.

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Remedial specifications should include detailed procedures for the excavation and hauling of contaminated materials off-site to an acceptable disposal facility, and it should also clearly identify specific requirements such as the use of mud mats or a similar truck or wheel washing station/decontamination pad(s), and other considerations such as lining the container that carries bulk shipments of solids, or appropriate drums for liquids, to comply with Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations (TDGR), SOR/2001-286.

Contractor’s Pollution Liability (CPL) insurance covers claims from third parties against bodily injury or property damage caused by hazardous waste materials released during human activities, such as business operations during and/or after any remedial activities occur. Since much of the property being developed today has had some previous commercial or agricultural use, environmental exposures are not limited to heavy industrial or waste disposal sites and are usually required from contractor who is working on these environmentally sensitive projects. Such insurance requirements will provide their own set of parameters outlined to stay within their legal rights and responsibilities throughout the project, whether it is practical or not. Please note: Specifiers are not to adjust insurance requirements, but should be aware of them.

Practicality

The third “P,” practicality, is also important to consider when preparing specifications for remedial projects, based on lessons learned from implementing a variety of projects in the North American industry experience. Some tips, gained from several years of practical experience, are discussed below.

RAPs and permits/approvals from various agencies to implement remedial actions typically provide certain conditions to monitor and demonstrate the effectiveness of the remedial process and show there are no unacceptable discharges or emissions. Typically, the owner’s consultant evaluates remedial success by sampling the soil or groundwater being remediated and taken samples of ambient air, discharges, and emissions as required to demonstrate permit compliance. The results of these sampling activities commonly require changes to remedial processes (e.g. more excavation or additional treatment). The way the specifications and associated pricing are developed is important to ensure smooth project implementation to address these changes. For example, if excavation is priced as a lump sum, but further excavation needs to occur based on AHJ requirements, having a contractor provide additional unit pricing for further excavation could be problematic, so it would have been easier to have a unit price for this item to begin with and likely avoid such disputes.

Field QC can be successfully executed if specified with practicality in mind. An unreasonable requirement for oversight or testing results (e.g. testing every sample or awaiting lab results) can cause setbacks leading to change orders for scheduling delays, additional payment, or an insufficient remediation. Summary tables, either found within or attached to the end of specific specification sections or requested as a submission, should list all testing and inspection requirements, and are also highly beneficial for both the consultant’s on-site representative and the contractor to outline the requirements all in one place. Outlining requirements provides an opportunity to encourage the contractor to read the specs and give them some logical summary of expectations for testing and inspections. This ensures the minimum inspection and testing requirements, as well as the associated QC and quality assurance (QA) are met.

When it comes to pricing, many remediation projects are typically, and more practically, procured as a unit price contract, rather than a lump sum contract type. This is usually considered the most logical approach since the extent of contamination may often be unknown, thereby making precise quantities difficult to determine with certainty prior to soil testing or excavation and are impractical to estimate.

The owner does take on a risk such as running over budget but specifying the requirement for the contractor to be meticulous in tracking critical tasks and project costs, such as providing weigh tickets from transfer facilities of the loaded vehicles or litres (gallons) of treated groundwater, will ensure if records are properly maintained and avoid payment disputes later, especially when quantities may be disputable.

In conclusion, if a specifier remembers the best practices and applies the three “Ps”: planning, parameters, practicality, it will help in the development of a more comprehensive specification, mitigate oversights, and create a foundation for a successful execution of a remediation project.

Author’s note: Special thanks to Mila Legge, Richard C. Hoekstra, Frederick Taylor, and Zofia Sawkiewicz for peer reviewing this article.

 Notes

¹ Information gathered from www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90e19#BK24.

² Refer to the Occupational Heath and Safety Act (OHSA) at www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/
910213#BK9.

Author’s note: *Zone classification as defined by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) HAZWOPER Work Zone categories. Terms marked with an asterisk are also commonly used in the “HazMat” industry. OSHA is an American initiative supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); the leading authorities involved in major contaminated site cleanup since their inception 20 days apart in December of 1970. This was the time of the infamous “love canal” and other such disasters to local environments, which further inflicted the birth of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), informally known as the “superfund.” Unfortunately, Canada is lacking in an equivalent mandate with each province having to invoke individual statutes to apply, such as Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), R.S.O. 1990, Chapter O.1. or enactment of a Notices of Orders as detailed in Part XI, Section 51 of O. Reg. 153/04, Records of Site Condition, found within CEPA, c. E.19, which also focuses on Remedial Orders in Section 17.

Author

Joanna Wcislo graduated from the University of Waterloo with a bachelor in environmental studies, and a joint honours degree in environment and resource studies (ERS) and peace and conflict studies (PACS) through Conrad Grebel University College. Wcislo has since been an specification writer with GHD for more than 14 years, specializing in the preparation of bid and contract documents for various types of projects including construction, remediation, restoration, waste disposal, wastewater treatment plants, building, transportation, and many projects of various scale in Canada and the U.S. She is familiar with various client-specific formats, and is proficient in developing specifications using various specification editing software systems. In addition, Wcislo is experienced in reviewing the application of municipal, provincial, national, and international standards throughout the Americas, to adhere to overall internal and external quality assurance (QA) standards in specifications. She is also now managing the update of more than 700 model specifications, along with the creation of a platform and guiding documents to provide clients quality project deliverables. Wcislo is a member of CSC’s Grand Valley chapter as program officer since 2015. She can be reached at joanna.wcislo@ghd.com.

Source URL: https://www.constructioncanada.net/the-three-ps-for-specifying-work-at-contaminated-sites/

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