Revised March 8, 2011                                                                                                  

Hazardous Materials Reporting

In order to help protect its employees from harmful exposures the City of Courtenay is introducing new procedures when issuing Building and Demolition permits.

WorkSafeBC requires a Hazardous Materials Survey be completed for any buildings built prior to 1990 that are undergoing demolition, renovation or additions.   Effective March 01, 2011 the results of this survey and the City of Courtenay’s Hazardous Materials Report Form must be completed and submitted prior to a building inspector performing any inspections related to a building permit.

Hazardous materials include asbestos, lead, the contents in aboveground and underground storage tanks, PCBs, mercury, formaldehyde and abandoned chemicals.  All hazardous materials must be identified, removed and recycled or disposed of prior to any work being done in accordance with all relevant regulations.  The survey to identify these materials must be completed by a qualified person, as defined in WorkSafeBC Guideline 6.6-3. (Copy Attached)

The Hazardous Materials Report Form must be completed by the contractor, demolition contractor or environmental consultant to demonstrate that they are aware of what hazardous materials are present and require removal.  It is not acceptable to say “See Survey” on the form and incomplete or unsigned forms will not be accepted.  All hazardous surveys received by the City will be reviewed to ensure the scope of the survey corresponds to the work applied for on the Building Permit.

The completed Hazardous Materials Report Form and Hazardous Materials Survey (sample results from the lab) must be completed and received before a building inspection will be conducted.  Note if hazardous materials are present, then the removal process must be completed first, complying with all regulations and legislation.  Please note that a sample of a Hazardous Materials Survey is attached to this report.  Please keep copies of all documents on the worksite at all times. 

All employers under the Workers Compensation Act are required to protect their workers from exposure to hazardous materials in the workplace.