White Paper Focuses on Minimizing Risks, Costs of PCBs in Construction
EH&E, a Needham, Mass.-based environmental services consulting firm, has released a new, free white paper designed to help building owners, developers, and others minimize the looming risks and costs caused by the discovery of polychlorinated biphenyls in their construction materials. The paper, titled "What You Need to Know About Managing PCBs in Construction Materials--An Emerging Environmental Issue," details the potential liabilities and current risk management strategies for dealing with PCBs in construction materials.
"PCB-containing building materials represent a newly discovered and significant liability for building owners, real estate developers, REITS, financing institutions, and contractors," said EH&E President and co-founder John McCarthy. "The regulation-driven remediation efforts can dramatically impact the cost of renovation or demolition, quickly costing millions of dollars for a single, large-scale project. Public and private owners of real estate must be aware of the regulatory requirements, legal implications, and have strategies ready to implement to effectively minimize their risk and remediation costs."
The discovery of PCBs in building materials generally occurs once a project has been contracted, resulting in costly project change orders that significantly impact the construction schedule and project costs, he added. This white paper details a proactive strategy to avoid regulatory mishaps in the first place, maintain a safe and healthful building, and to accurately assess the need for and costs of any required remediation efforts prior to construction so that these costs can be predicted and minimized in the project budget. Download the paper at www.eheinc.com/pcbriskmgmt.htm.