As New Zealand’s largest representative body of the water, resource recovery and contaminated land sectors, WasteMINZ acts as an authoritative voice to achieve ongoing and positive development in this industry.
Every year, WasteMINZ host a conference to explore key themes affecting the New Zealand contaminated land community. This year’s conference will be held in Hamilton and centres around the theme of “Purpose, Progress and Potential”.
As part of the conference, three members of the 4Sight team will be presenting; James Blackwell, Terre Nicholson and Nigel Mather.
James’ presentation, titled “Passive and active soil vapour sampling – a complementary approach”, will discuss the benefits of adopting early passive and active soil vapour sampling techniques to assess sites with suspected contamination by volatile compounds in soil and groundwater. Drawing on his experience in Australia, James will detail a case study where complimentary soil vapour sampling techniques were used.
James has particular strengths in petroleum and chlorinated hydrocarbon assessment and subsequent remediation in soil, groundwater and soil vapour; in addition to having a broad understanding of the assessment requirements surrounding the rehabilitation and redevelopment of closed landfills.
We’re excited to have James represent us at this year’s conference and look forward to hearing his presentation. In the meantime, you can read more about James’ experience on our website here.
Terre will be presenting information on moving from safety confusion to a safety culture under the new WorkSafe regulations.
Anytime new regulations are introduced, there is confusion as to what’s required and what the costs will be. The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 requires a risk-based approach and a high degree of worker engagement, which represents a substantial change in implementing health and safety in the workplace.
Terre’s presentation draws on her work experiences which ranges from working as an underground labourer at a uranium mine, a project manager, and a technical resource for the team that developed the first safety case accepted by WorkSafe in New Zealand. You can read more about that here.
Terre’s WasteMINZ presentation will be discussing some of the elements required to develop a safety culture that saves time and money in the long run.
Nigel is a Principal Land and Water Quality Consultant with 4Sight Consulting and has been an environment and health and safety professional for 15 years.
Nigel will be presenting a case study in association with Rowan Freeman (Environment Canterbury) on managing and disposing of asbestos-contaminated soil in Canterbury.
There are currently limited options for the disposal of asbestos-containing materials in the Canterbury region. This presentation sets out how assessment and disposal of asbestos-contaminated soils are addressed internationally, whether international guidance and practices can be adapted for use in the Canterbury Region (and wider New Zealand), and what the potential risks are with this approach.
For more information on the conference, visit the WasteMINZ website here.