The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) rules are typically followed when conducting environmental site evaluations and environmental audits. Environmental site evaluations are governed by document Z768, while environmental auditing is governed by document Z773. While not legally required, adhering to these rules is considered good business practice. They contain legally recognized norms and standards and, as a result, serve as an industry-required minimum level of conduct for professionals. In environmental audits and ESAs, confidentiality is frequently a problem. Under consulting agreements, which frequently have confidentiality clauses, assessors perform their services for their customers. Every consulting contract has confidentiality terms, but they are crucial in contracts for environmental assessments or environmental audits.
Environmental contamination reporting by all parties, including assessors, is one of the legislative requirements that are shared by all statutes. Furthermore, an overriding duty to protect the environment is frequently included in provincial codes of ethics governing the conduct of the professions. As a result, a contractual secrecy demand may be superseded by the legal and moral requirements to avoid and report contamination. However, the client may have a legal argument that the report should be exempt from a reporting requirement if a consulting contract contains a strict confidentiality clause or if the environmental assessment or audit was conducted at the request of a lawyer. A contractual professional should seek particular legal counsel in such cases before reporting.
Sites Assessment
An ESA evaluates a building for potential contamination. If contamination is found, a remediation protocol is advised. ESAs are often carried out by a team of experts, which includes engineers and geoscientists. ESAs are frequently requested by parties looking to buy or sell property, lenders, and by those looking to develop real estate. Phases are used to categorize ESAs.
Phase I
The likelihood that a property is contaminated is assessed in the first stage. According to the CSA, a Phase I ESA is “the methodical procedure by which an Assessor strives to ascertain whether a certain property is or may be vulnerable to actual or prospective contamination.” A Phase I ESA mostly comprises of gathering information on the site from parties such as regulatory agencies, current and former owners, and managers of the land and entails little to no drilling or physical sample. The extent and kind of information to be acquired are up to the assessor’s discretion but may include regulatory databases, aerial photos, historical title searches, and fire insurance maps. Inquiries into nearby properties are typically conducted to see if pollution may have spread from a nearby site. The findings and conclusions of the assessor following a methodical procedure and an appropriate level of inquiry should be clearly described in the Phase I ESA report.
Phase II
If a Phase II ESA is advised in the Phase I ESA, it is typically undertaken. By “the systematic procedure… by which an Assessor strives to characterise and/or delineate the concentrations or quantities of chemicals of concern connected to a site and compare those levels to criteria,” the CSA defines a Phase II ESA. By sampling soil and groundwater, the Phase II ESA analyses the most likely sites of contamination. The results are then compared to pertinent regulatory and industrial standards.
Phase III
A Phase III ESA is required if a Phase II ESA suggests remediation. A Phase III ESA offers a thorough explanation of the contaminants, a suggested course of action for remediation, confirmatory sampling during the remediation process, and a measurement of the remediation program’s effectiveness. Environmental remediation frequently includes a Phase III ESA as an essential component.
Environmental Audits
Corporate environmental audits, often known as compliance audits, are now commonly conducted by corporations. These audits satisfy legal requirements or offer defenses against environmental claims or legal actions. Additionally, they help an organization comprehend its environmental dangers. Corporate environmental audits have a variety of objectives, including preventing health risks associated with environmental contaminants, protecting the organization from liability claims from tenants and customers, assisting in establishing defenses to statutory offenses and claims, lowering remediation costs, and ensuring the marketability of a property. An environmental audit is “a systematic process of objectively obtaining and evaluating evidence regarding a verifiable assertion about an environmental matter, to determine the degree of correspondence between the assertion and established criteria, and then communicating the results to the client,” according to CSA Guideline Z773. A declaration or statement regarding a certain topic that is backed up by evidence is referred to as a verifiable assertion. Although additional guidelines, such as ISO 14000, have been produced for environmental management systems, CSA Guideline Z773 is the appropriate standard for environmental audits. ESAs are also a part of several audits.