Environmental Services
Environmental Engineering
Protection of the air, sediment, soil and groundwater from impacts is of the upmost importance for the preservation of our property, ecosystems and the environment. Spills, leaks, discharges and emissions from operations and processes have the potential to negatively impact your property and surrounding neighbours. Environmental legislation can be confusing, but it is important to ensure compliance for real estate transactions and for any operations that have the potential to discharge contaminants into the environment.
Safetech’s team of Professional Engineers, Professional Geoscientists, Certified Engineering Technologists and Environmental Technicians can help ensure that you are complying with environmental regulations and can assist you with your property transactions, obtaining environmental compliance approvals, and submitting any emission inventories required for your operations.
Do you have leaking tanks?
You may be using a fuel tank to heat your building or have underground storage tanks (USTs) supplying various chemicals in support of your operations. Environmental investigations can be carried out to assess if USTs are leaking, and if so, determine how far the contamination has spread to provide appropriate options (and related costs) on how to remediate the impact.
Some options have a higher initial cost, but can get the impact removed relatively quickly, while others have an ongoing cost that may take years. Our experts will guide you through the process and provide you with information on foreseeable costs and problems that may arise.
Impacts to your neighbours is your responsibility. It is the owner of the source that must resolve the issue and address the impact. You may have insurance that covers third party liability, but insurance typically does not cover impacts to your own property.
Decommissioning your unused tanks can avoid potential future leaks and costly remediation fees.
Environmental Site Assessments
Environmental Site Assessments are typically required for real estate transactions for the purchase or sale of a property. They are needed because financial institutes want to ensure they are lending for a property that does not have costs associated with potential remediation requirements.
Air Emissions - Do you have stacks that lead outside of your facility?
ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE APPROVALS, EMISSIONS REPORTING, AND ACOUSTICAL ASSESSMENTS
You may have been visited by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) and given an Order to Comply with Ontario Regulations.
If your facility releases contaminants into the air or creates noise, you may need an Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA). The definition of a contaminant is very broad and can arise from commercial and manufacturing processes, sources of combustion, and sources of noise generation. This applies to most industrial facilities as well as several commercial, institutional and municipal facilities.
Some examples of where an ECA may be required include:
Spray Paint Booths
Commercial and Manufacturing Operations
Emergency Generators
Mobile Unit Sources
Boilers
Large HVAC Equipment
Cooling Towers
Other Sources of Air and Noise Emissions
Safetech specializes in preparing documentation packages in support of applications for Environmental Compliance Approvals and would be pleased to assist you with your ECA application.
Do you need a Record of Site Condition?
A Record of Site Condition (RSC) is typically required for the rezoning of a property (most of the time to a more sensitive type of site, such as when rezoning from commercial to residential). Developers typically come across this and require support with Environmental Site Assessments and a potential submission for an RSC. Our Professional Engineers and Professional Geoscientists are deemed Qualified Persons and have extensive experience submitting RSCs on behalf of our clients.
Our team provides timelines for the work, the potential wait time from the Ministry and are there for the potential back and forth to address questions.
Emergency Highway and Road Spills
Our team of Professional Engineers, Professional Geoscientists, Scientists and Environmental Technicians are available 24/7 to address emergencies related to fuel and other impacts due to traffic related spills. We are approved by various insurance companies to address emergency environmental impacts across Canada.