Contamination Assessments

Our specialist expertise and competence allows us to deliver cost effective, and reliable outcomes and in a timely manner.

Key services include:

• Preliminary Site Investigations and Desktop Reviews.
• Environmental Due Diligence / Pre-Purchase Assessments.
• Detailed Site Investigations.
• Soil and Groundwater Investigations.
• Vapour Investigations (vapour intrusion from contaminated soil, groundwater, and landfill gas).
• Asbestos assessments, monitoring and management.
• Radiation Assessments predominantly associated with Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) for potential risks from radiological exposures including external gamma, inhalation of dust, inhalation of gases (radon and thoron), ingestion, and presence in groundwater.
• Site Management Plans for enabling the ongoing use of a site with appropriate protections to manage risks to human health and the environment.
• Remediation Action Plans including feasibility assessment of remedial options and design of final remediation program to appropriately mitigate and manage contamination risks to meet site-specific conditions and stakeholder requirements.
• Strategic Advice regarding Contamination Liabilities, Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) Clean-up Notices, Memorials on Title, Due Diligence Pre-purchase Environmental Issues, Mandatory and Voluntary Audits, for Property redevelopment and site compliance.
• Community Consultation including stakeholder identification and engagement, risk communication planning and management.
• Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessments.
• Liaison with relevant regulatory authorities and appointed Auditors.
• Dust Monitoring and Management.

Development

Welarm understands that clearing WAPC and LGA planning conditions in a timely manner is crucial for property developers and appropriately, we recommend working closely with clients and stakeholders for property development projects and deliver the following:

• Strategic advice to clients at the planning phase of the project.
• Establishment of efficient and appropriate scopes of work at the outset.
• Designs of contamination remediation and risk management solutions integrated with planning and construction works.
• Liaison with client, contractors and regulators at the earliest stages of the project to ensure works are scheduled and delivered on time and on cost.

We recommend consideration of contamination liabilities during the preliminary phases of site redevelopment projects where an environmental planning condition is known to exist, or when it is expected from WAPC at a future stage of the development process. This early identification may facilitate opportunities to minimise or obviate likely development conditions requiring contamination and / or acid sulfate soils investigations of sites, and facilitate the understanding of how any issues may impact proposed development timing and costs.

Environmental & Pre-Purchase Due Diligence

Understanding the extent of contamination liability is crucial before buying, selling and often leasing properties. Unknown contamination liabilities may result in significant financial costs and redevelopment time delays, and may result in a site being unsuitable for its intended purpose. Failure to understand the nature and extent of contamination liabilities before purchasing land or businesses may result in the purchaser being held responsible for future remediation costs. Welarm has significant expertise in Environmental Due Diligence / Pre-Purchase and Baseline Assessments, with investigation scopes of work developed upon clients’ objectives, liability risk tolerances, and timelines.

Welarm can assist clients in understanding DWER Memorials on title, and when their property is considered a “source site” and / or an “affected site” due to contamination.

Poor or unsupervised demolition of buildings containing ACM may have cause ACM to be deposited upon the soil surface, which can become a significant contamination issue. ACM may also be present on sites through historical importation of ACM impacted fill materials.

Welarm staff have been involved with some of the largest asbestos investigations and remediation projects in WA. We have extensive experience in the assessment, monitoring and management of asbestos, including quantifying the nature and extent of ACM within surface soils, determining human health risk from ACM, and development of both innovative and proven asbestos management strategies.

Welarm provide the following Asbestos services:

• Design risk-based Remedial Action Plans to address both ACM and friable asbestos within soils.
• Identify asbestos building materials as part of Environmental Due Diligence audits in single story or multistorey buildings and maintain Asbestos Registers.
• Develop approved site assessment methods for sites contaminated by asbestos.
• Monitor the integrity of work areas where asbestos is identified.
• Monitoring work areas during remedial and construction earthworks activities where asbestos has been assessed to be present, including respirable fibre monitoring.
• Liaise with contractors during demolition in accordance with an EMP or in instances where unexpected ACM is identified.

Risk assessments are routinely undertaken as part of contaminated sites investigations by comparing chemical concentration data to available “Tier 1” screening criteria to determine whether substances are present at a site at concentrations which may potentially present a risk to human health, the environment or environmental values.

Welarm has significant experience in deriving and / or adopting Tier 2 and Tier 3 risk assessments. Our expertise includes calculating tolerable limits for sites used in the derivation of management goals and / or site-specific “clean up” criteria.

Welarm are experienced in undertaking preliminary site inspections and desktop reviews to identify areas of mining operations and mine support industries with significant potential for contamination risks. We have developed contamination liability risk matrices for mining clients and subsequently designed targeted soil and groundwater investigation programs in consideration of operational, rehabilitation and / or mine closure requirements. Where required, Welarm can liaise with regulators, CS Auditors and other stakeholders to progress the needs of clients and avoid timely delays during approval processes.
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Key Services include:

• Assessments of tailing storage facilities (TSF);
• Assessing the nature and extent of particulate deposition (metals and NORM);
• Determination of site-specific radiological background conditions for assessment of radiological exposure risk and development of appropriate screening criteria;
• Investigation of surface water and groundwater impacts associated with mining operations across multiple water bearing units;
• Assessment of contamination associated with facility infrastructure; and
• Development of a working environmental management plan (EMP) for a site under Care and Maintenance.

Welarm provide assessment services for sites where naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) may be present and has specialist expertise in the determination of human health risk associated with mineral sands processing and mining operations. Key services include the development of conceptual site models for both occupational and public radiological exposure scenarios, and the assessment of radiological dose by exposure pathways including external gamma radiation, dust inhalation and ingestion, radon / thoron gas inhalation, groundwater and surface water ingestion.

Welarm understand the importance of establishing robust radiological baselines and background data for all relevant exposure pathways to ensure human health and ecological risks are appropriately determined. Further, site management and remediation decisions must be based upon a thorough understanding of variations in background conditions and anthropogenic radiological contamination sources.

We have successfully undertaken environmental assessments, remediation, and validation programs related to sites contaminated by NORM from processing works, which satisfied project objectives and the expectations the DWER, (WA) Radiological Council, the appointed CS Auditor, and were in compliance with DMP guidance.