Liveable Environments

Fisher’s Livable Environment Specialists Help Assess and Improve the Quality of Your Indoor Living Space.

Chronic exposure to hazardous or toxic substances can harm human health. In some cases, even acute exposure to hazardous and toxic substances can be fatal. The Fisher Hazardous Materials team is able to assess the conditions of your indoor living spaces and building materials which can affect your and your family’s health. Their extensive knowledge of Federal and Provincial legislations under several under several Acts and Regulations help to ensure that conditions within your living space provides you with peace of mind.

Fisher Engineering Limited provides our clients with the in-house resources to identify, assess, and provide pathways to achieve safer and healthier living spaces.

Designated Substances

How to deal with Designated Substances

O. Reg. 490/09 provides a consistent approach to dealing with existing requirements and provisions. It outlines steps required to control worker exposure to these substances, including inhalation, ingestion, skin absorption, or skin contact.

Each designated substance has an allowable level of exposure based on a time-weighted average (TWA) limit and may also have a short-term exposure limit (STEL) and/or ceiling limit (C) assigned to it.

TWA refers to the time-weighted average airborne concentration of a biological or chemical agent to which a worker may be exposed in a workday or workweek.
STEL refers to the maximum airborne concentration of a biological or chemical agent to which a worker may be exposed in any 15-minute period
C refers to the maximum airborne concentration of a biological or chemical agent to which a worker may be exposed at any time.

Designation is reserved for eleven particularly hazardous substances, covered under Ontario Regulation 490/09 – Designated Substances, implemented on July 1, 2010.

Formerly, regulations for these substances were passed separately, and each outlined exposure limits where workers were likely to inhale, ingest, and/or absorb the substance.

The Big Eleven

Designated Materials

1

Acrylonitrile, arsenic, asbestos (link to lab), benzene, coke oven emissions, ethylene oxides, isocyanates, lead, mercury, silica, and vinyl chloride.

Asbestos - A Special Case

The Construction Industry

The control of asbestos exposures in the construction industry has evolved into Ontario Regulation 278/05 – Asbestos on Construction Projects and in Buildings and Repair Operations. It is a supplementary regulation.

The regulation includes a definition of asbestos-containing materials (ACM), requirements for additional training, clearance air testing, procedures for determining materials that meet the definition of ACM and for the use of glove bags, and provisions for varying from the measure and procedures set out in the regulation.

More Regulations

In addition to the OHSA and regulations regarding designated substances, the following regulations, guidelines, and standards are also taken into account and referenced:

Ontario Regulation 213/91 - Construction Projects regulated under the OHSA and last amended by O. Reg. 443/09
Ontario Regulation 558/00 made under the Ministry of Environment (MOE) Environmental Protection Act, amending Ontario Regulation 347 - General Waste Management
The Transport of Dangerous Goods Act (TDGA) provides regulations for the transport of asbestos-containing materials and wastes
MOL Guideline: Lead on Construction Projects, 2011
MOL Guideline: Silica on Construction Projects, 2011

Designation is reserved for eleven particularly hazardous substances, covered under Ontario Regulation 490/09 – Designated Substances, implemented on July 1, 2010.

Formerly, regulations for these substances were passed separately, and each outlined exposure limits where workers were likely to inhale, ingest, and/or absorb the substance.

Photo: Historic image of asbestos – containing vermiculite used extensively in the building industry prior to the 1980s(source unknown)

FISHER FILE

Asbestos: A Nemesis And Much More

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