Vivien Dent of RSK, the leader of the Contaminated Land Working Group, has provided an update on the top issues the Contaminated Land Working Group discussed in their recent meeting which took place in May 2019.

Updating the AGS Asbestos in Ground Investigation Guidance
This document was issued as interim guidance in February 2013. Since this time, there have been several publications and guidance documents published. The guidance is therefore possibly out of date and is being revised. The aim of the guidance is for people to know how to work safely when they encounter asbestos. The AGS Asbestos in Ground Investigation Guidance is currently in final draft and is being peer reviewed by the AGS Contaminated Land WG, along with the AGS Safety WG and AGS Laboratories WG.

AGS Guidelines to Good Practice in Geoenvironmental Ground Investigation
An opinion piece by Chris Swainston of Soils Limited on AGS Guidelines to Ground Practice in Geoenvironmental Ground Investigation was featured in the May 2019 issue of the AGS Magazine and can be viewed on the AGS website. The Contaminated Land WG are considering the possibility of creating a ‘road map’ of documents. The AGS aim to promote good practice – as Chris mentioned in his article – if you stacked the relevant documents on top of each other, the guidance alone would probably reach to your waist. As there is so much information out there – how do you know what is relevant? It is important that AGS members know which guidance to follow and where to find the guidance.

ERES Code Review
A working group has been established to review ERES Codes. The ERES Codes are being reviewed as it is important to have consistent data. For example, so there are not two or more codes for the same determinant.

Next CLWG Meeting
In their next meeting, which is taking place in July, the Contaminated Land Working Group will be looking at the Environment Agency’s online guidance; Land Contamination: Risk Management (LCRM) which is an update to the Model Procedures for the Management of Land Contamination (CLR11), with the aim of providing feedback to the Environment Agency on behalf of the AGS.
Feedback on issues

The Contaminated Land Working Group would like AGS members to feedback to the group about any issues they are struggling with and if there are any issues which they would like to group to investigate. If you do have any issues for the Contaminated Land Working Group to discuss, please email ags@ags.org.uk.