A & A Environmental Services Inc.
A & A Environmental Services, Inc. was founded in 1992 by the current principals, Dr. George Duncan, M.Sc., Ph.D., M.C.I.C., C. Chem., an environmental analytical chemist with 25 years' experience and Mr. Robert H. Jones, B.Eng., P.Eng., a consulting civil engineer with over 30 years' experience.
Dr. Duncan is also the founding President of Accuracy Environmental Laboratories Ltd., a CAEAL-certified and MOE-licensed laboratory and Mr. Jones is founding President of Acculab Engineering & Testing Ltd., an engineering consulting/soil testing laboratory located in Timmins.
A & A Environmental Services Inc. was formed in May, 1993 to perform a wide range of consulting services including:
Environmental liability assessments of industrial, commercial and residential real estate, gas stations; Field sampling and monitoring of sewage lagoons, landfills; Spill delineation and monitoring; Hydrogeological investigations; Industrial hygiene/occupational health and safety; Archeological investigations; Consulting Chemists, On-site Analysis and Laboratory Services.
A & A Environmental Services has a unique strength in having a chartered chemist on staff capable of clearly defining the chemical issues involved. An environmental assessment is, more than anything else, an assessment of the chemical condition of a property. The core subject in defining environmental contamination is chemistry and an in-depth understanding of chemical principles is essential in the assessment of the chemical condition of any property. Many properties, particularly gas stations, are being improperly assessed due to a failure to understand the chemical properties of the contaminants. For instance, a soil contaminated with gasoline will readily lose its volatile hydrocarbons within the first few minutes of exposure to air and failure to guard against this can lead to a gross underestimation of contamination levels when these samples reach the laboratory. Some sites may exceed guideline levels in other contaminants but the contaminant may be 'locked up' within the soil and will not leach into the environment and therefore may not need an expensive cleanup.
Through its affiliated company, Accuracy Environmental Laboratories, A & A has available a fully equipped laboratory service certified by a national accreditation agency (CAEAL). By using field chemists skilled in on-site analysis, much expense can be avoided both during an assessment and the subsequent cleanup. Soils can be analyzed accurately in the field and results obtained within minutes which avoid lengthy delays for excavators, trucks and others involved in the site cleanup. Indeed, costly extended studies can be avoided simply by monitoring a cleanup as it proceeds, using on-site analysis.
Protocols for Performing Environmental Site Assessments
All environmental site assessments are carried out in accordance with CSA Z751-94 guidelines (Phase I) as well as the various M.O.E.E. and C.C.M.E. guidelines. Other details on A & A are given in the Appendix. Environmental audits are performed in accordance with the 'Generally Accepted Standards for Environmental Investigations' published by the Consulting Engineers of Ontario (1993).
Equipment List:
'Little Beaver Hydraulic Soil Auger'; 3-inch solid stem augers, 5ft length; 3-inch solid stem augers, 3ft length; 6-inch hollow stem augers, 5ft length; Photovac Gas Chromatograph with air cylinder(2); Gas-Tec Electronic gas sniffer; Immuno-assay test kit; Depth meters for wells; Sampling equipment; pH meters; Conductivity Meters; Dissolved Oxygen Meters.
Company Details
Year Established:
1992
Total Sales ($CDN):
$200,000 - $500,000
Number of Employees:
10
Company Information
George Duncan
Title:
President
Area of Responsibility:
Management Executive
Telephone:
(705) 567-4996
Fax:
(705) 568-8368
Email:
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Products
Pollution
Contamination
Environmental Products And Services
Site Assessment/Remediation Service.
Site investigations including archeological studies, hydrogeological studies, compliance audits, health & safety and industrial hygiene studies, site remediations under various Provincial and Federal guidelines and landfill/sewage lagoon design and monitoring. The company employs chartered chemists, professional engineers, licensed archeologists, hydro geologists and other professionals. The company also has an affiliated environmental analysis laboratory which is certified by CAEAL (Canadian Association of Environmental Analytical Laboratories) and can provide ON-SITE analysis for a number of contaminants including Volatile Organic Carbons by gas-chromatography (Photovac GC/PID).
Capabilities include equipment for the installation of monitoring wells for sewage lagoons, landfills, etc and for sampling these on a routine basis.
On-site Analysis Using A Photovac Portable Gas Chromatograph/Pid.
Recent publications have highlighted a very serious underestimation the presence of, in soils, of volatile organic compounds such as BTEX components and halomethanes. The errors involved are between one and four orders of magnitude resulting in many sites being declared contaminant-free when in fact soil limits are grossly exceeded. Poor sampling methods by field personnel, a lack of appreciation of the extreme volatility of some of the most toxic components and sample degradation between the sampling event and the actual analysis at a remote fixed laboratory are all contributing factors to the large errors observed.
Proper attention to sampling and performance of on-site analysis using a portable gas chromatograph equipped with a photoionization detector almost completely eradicate these errors and allow a rapid response to clean up decisions required during site remediation. Our company provides experienced field chemists capable of performing accurate on-site analyses.
Services
Water & Soils Analysis
Site Assessment
Environmental Services
Chemical Analysis
Environmental Testing
Environmental Assessments
Indoor Air Quality
Monitoring of Indoor Air Quality for designated and non-
designated substances.
Sick building air monitoring
Hydrogeological Studies
Hydrogeological studies of landfills, sewage lagoons, tailings
ponds