ES&E’s annual conference and tradeshow attracts some 1,000 people

ES&E’s staff at the registration desk. Left to right: Virginia Meyer, Sandra Davey, Karen Bruce, Penny Davey and Denise Simpson.

Almost one thousand people attended ES&E’s 10th Annual Environmental Management, Compliance and Engineering Conference and the Ontario Environmental Tradeshow, April 9 – 10, 2002. Now firmly established as Ontario’s largest private conference of environmental compliance strategies, technologies and solutions, it took place near Pearson International Airport, Toronto.

Some program highlights:

Regulation and Compliance for supervisors and managers

Speakers: Robert Mansall, Leonard J. Griffiths, Dennis Mahony, Mark Adkins, Sherry Eaton and Jeffrey B. Gracer, Torys LLP.

• The new framework for environmental compliance.
• Federal environmental legislation.
• Provincial environmental legislation.
• The approvals process and approvals reform.
• Recent changes to the waste management regulation.
• Enforcement, inspections and investigations.
• Brownfields.
• Canada/US trans-border issues.

Dealing with industrial water and wastewater

Speakers: John Willms, Donna Shier, Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers, and Jim Bishop, Beak International.

• Overview of legislation.
• Enforcement and prohibitions.
• Certificates of approval for wastewater treatment.
• Municipal sewer use by-laws.
• Industrial stormwater management.
• Potential impacts of industrial operations.
• Defending environmental charges.

Environmental Management – ISO principles and best-practices

Presented by: David MacLeod and Environmental Management specialists at Jacques Whitford Environment.

• Introduction to the ISO 14000 Series of Standards.
• Integrating environmental with other existing management systems and protocols.
• Essential elements of the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) guidelines. – 4.1 General Requirements – 4.2 Environmental Policy – 4.3 Environmental Planning – 4.4 Implementation and Operation – 4.5 Checking, Auditing and Corrective Action – 4.6 Management Review

Dealing with industrial and contaminated land

Chaired by: David Hopper and Jeanette Southwood, Angus Environmental Limited, and Janet Bobechko, Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP.

• Site-owners’ liabilities under the law.
• Bill 56: Brownfields Statute Law Amendment Act.
• Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA).
• Phase II ESA, Decommissioning and Remediation.
• Site-Specific Risk Assessments.
• Underground storage tanks.
• Site contamination: Communicating with the Ministry.
• The Record of Site Condition (RSC).
• The “alternative process” to Record of Site Condition.
• Lender regulations and liabilities.

Dennis Mahony, Torys LLP	Dianne Saxe, Saxe Law Office	Paul Plotz, MOE Enforcement Branch

EH&S: The supervisor’s role – health & safety

Speakers: Norman A. Keith, and associates at Donahue LLP.

• Supervisors on the front line of EH&S management.
• Supervisors’ responsibilities under OH&S legislation.
• Specific responsibilities of the ‘competent’ supervisor.
• Supervisory functions: generally.
• Supervisory functions: specifically.
• Inspections, investigations and charges.

EH&S: The supervisor’s role – compliance and due diligence

• Potential environmental liabilities of managers and supervisors.
• Environmental responsibilities of managers and supervisors under federal and provincial laws.
• Responding to MOE inspections and investigations.
• What supervisors can do to help establish environmental due diligence.

Jim Bishop, Beak International	Adam Quipp, RWDI

Dealing with industrial air emissions

Presented by: RWDI Consulting Engineers and Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers.

• Regulatory framework.
• Certificates of Approval.
• Certificates of Approval: Modeling.
• Compliance and enforcement.

Dealing with industrial air emissions – Reg. 127

• Airborne Emissions Regulation (O. Reg. 127/01).
• Information management.
• Complying with air emission monitoring and reporting: Q and A.

Due Diligence and the EMS

Presented by David MacLeod and Environmental Management specialists at Jacques Whitford Environment. Speakers included: Dianne Saxe, Environmental Lawyer, Jag Bilkhu, David Parkinson, Jacques Whitford Environment, Greg Rooney, Ventra.

• Principles of systematic environmental management.
• Environmental due diligence: Why ISO 14001 is a useful model.
• Flow of an Environmental Management System.
• Identifying environmental ‘aspects’.
• Designing efficient and effective environmental management programs.
• Potential EMS traps and solutions.

Management in practice – Government & industry case studies

• ISO 14001 government case study: City of Calgary.
• ISO 14001 industry case study: Ventra EMS.

Preparing for and responding to spills and emergencies

Speakers:Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers, Gary Zikovitz, Spills Action Centre, Cliff Holland, President of Spill Management Inc., Dave Reid, EH&S Manager, Molson Canada, Talis Forstmanis, President, TAF Industrial Consulting.

• Emergency Response (ER) planning.
• Spills: Specific reporting.
• Introduction to spill prevention and response planning.
• A chemical spill prevention and response plan.
• Developing a Spills Response Plan.
• Introducing a Chemical Product Management System (CPMS) for EMS/ER systems.
• Facing the worst case scenario.

John Willms, Willms and Shier Environmental Lawyers	David Hopper, Angus Environmental Limited

In three years, the number of booths sold has increased threefold. Exhibitors expressed their approval at both the numbers and quality of attendees. The 2003 conference and tradeshow are tentatively scheduled to be held in May, at the Toronto Congress Centre.