Health and Safety Monitoring at Former MGP Site
The Challenge
The client, a gas and electric utility company servicing New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, is investigating and remediating approximately 50 former manufactured gas plant (MGP) sites across their system. A new sanitary sewer line needed to be installed in a residential area adjacent to a historical MGP site with benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX); polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); cyanide; and coal-tar residuals in subsurface soils. Some of these constituents had also been detected in groundwater monitoring wells present on the site. Soil vapor was also investigated but did not indicate the potential for adverse exposures. To prepare for sewer-line installation, excavation and disposal of impacted soils was completed. The remediation contractor required an experienced firm to implement a community air monitoring plan and provide third-party health and safety monitoring during residual soil removal, dewatering, and sewer-line installation work.
GES Solution
Compliance with safety performance/regulatory requirements and implementation of a Community Air Monitoring Program (CAMP) was critical to the success of the project. GES was retained to provide on-site health and safety oversight and implement the CAMP. GES’ certified industrial hygienist completed an initial review of the health and safety plan (HASP) for the project to define the project requirements and determine the protective measures and oversight work to be conducted. This initial review enabled GES to become familiar with the client’s safety procedures and work practices. GES mobilized the equipment and resources to implement the CAMP and provide health and safety oversight. GES has been working collaboratively with the contractor and the oversight engineering firm. CAMP implementation includes daily on-site monitoring, data collection and maintenance, and weekly reporting. GES’ health and safety supervision involves conducting daily safety meetings, providing safety oversight, identifying best practices, completing any near-miss or incident reporting, and maintaining the employee/visitor logs. The client completed a safety audit of the job site in October 2015 and all site work was found to be in compliance with the utility company’s procedures and the project HASP.
Client Benefits
GES’ full-time presence on the site and direct engagement with both the contractor and the oversight engineer has enabled the project to move ahead efficiently and on schedule. Implementation of the CAMP confirmed that there were no impacts to the surrounding neighborhood. GES’ role in providing health and safety oversight has resulted in no safety incidents during the work.