Premier has been involved in a number of legal cases where the data we have collected has withstood legal challenges, and our findings are frequently used as key pieces of evidence to settle cases both inside and outside the courtroom.
No matter the purpose of your environmental investigation, it’s important to properly design, plan and conduct your sampling program regardless of whether these involve real estate transactions, Brownfield development projects or emergency response. This will ensure that the data collected is legally defensible—whether it involved the collection of soil, sediment, groundwater or vapour samples.
A well-designed Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) program both in the laboratory and field are essential to ensure accuracy, precision and representativeness of the data produced. This typically involves equipment blanks, trip blanks, blind field duplicates, replicates, matrix spikes and surrogate recoveries. Proper evaluation of the QA/QC data is essential to demonstrate validity, accuracy and reproducibility. Commercial laboratories also offer various levels of enhanced legal sampling services to support the consultant and proponent in this regards that go beyond the typical chain of custody.
Premier was recently involved in a Phase II Environmental Site Assessment at a commercial property in Quebec to assist a property owner who had been named in a multi-party lawsuit. The sampling and analysis program was developed and implemented in accordance with provincial guidance and with input from counsel to ensure the data would sustain legal scrutiny, maximize the chances of success and minimize additional legal or re-sampling costs. In addition to numerous constraints that had to be overcome, Level I legal sampling procedures were implemented with the laboratory that involved legal seals, photographic documentation of sample reception, extended storage and digital documentation. Video surveillance was also implemented to ensure that monitoring wells were not tampered with between installation and sampling.
Specialized angle drilling equipment is sometimes required to overcome access constraints and obtain samples from very specific locations.
In addition to legally defensible sampling, Premier also offers services covering environmental liability insurance, insurance underwriting surveys, claims support, environmental forensics and expert witness testimony.
For more information, please contact John Cracknell at 514-608-7202 or jcracknell@premiercorp.ca.
