Each year in Canada, many cleaning companies carry out mandates of varying sizes, some of which involve a potential risk to the environment. Long-established companies know that it is crucial to have sufficient insurance coverage in order to have financial protection in case of need.

For example, in southern Ontario, the scheduled demolition of a U.S. power plant recently posed an environmental risk, according to the Times-Herald report from Port Huron, Michigan. Following the demolition, which took place on November 7, there was public concern that the dust cloud that crossed the St. Clair River on its way to Sarnia might contain asbestos.

The facts

The Marysville DTE plant that was demolished was a coal-fired power plant that supplied the region with electricity from 1922 to 2001. It was built and retrofitted several times before the harmful effects of asbestos were discovered, according to the newspaper. It was finally closed in 2011. Nevertheless, a company entered the building to attempt to remove all the asbestos before demolition. The operation was conducted under the supervision of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and an independent third party.

But that wasn't enough to ease the concerns of Canadians living across the river. They asked the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change Action to collect and analyze samples of the dust to test for asbestos. A few weeks later, the Ministry announced that the samples did not contain asbestos.

Lessons learned

When working in old buildings, but also sometimes in new constructions, cleaning companies have to be extremely careful in managing environmental risks. Despite their efforts, there are still concerns. Therefore, they must always consider the worst-case scenario when assessing the environmental impact of their activities. For example, the demolition crews dampened the entire structure with foggers in an effort to reduce the amount of dust caused by the demolition even though the asbestos removal specialists had already been there.

"We're always concerned when we're working on 100-year-old buildings," said Marysville Public Safety Chief Tom Konik. "But we have a control system in place. I knew there wouldn't be a problem."

When purchasing a new building or location, purchasers should be aware of the previous use of the property as there may be hidden elements to the property that can arise at a later date and require costly remediation to rectify. With contractors brought into cleanup these situations, the onus falls on them to ensure that the site is cleaned up entirely and nothing is left behind.

The more contractors can do to make sure they’re covering themselves in case of environmental exposure on the job, the better. But that same principle also applies to having the proper insurance to make sure that, if anything does happen to go wrong, contracting companies small or large will be adequately protected from the financial fallout.