Child Care Centers

Professional Environmental Associates, LLC (PEA) has assisted a multitude of Child Care Centers in obtaining new licenses, renewing their licenses and/or resolving environmental problems/site contamination. David L. Poling, President of PEA, is a New Jersey Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP) and a Licensed Indoor Environmental Consultant (LIEC), these licenses being necessary for making and certifying submissions to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) under the Site Remediation Program and to the New Jersey Department of Health under the Indoor Environments Program. Our services include conducting:

• Preliminary Assessments
• Site Investigations (sampling and analysis/additional evaluation)
• Site Remediation
• Indoor Environmental Health Assessments (IEHA’s)
• Vapor Intrusion Studies

PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENTS

In 2007, New Jersey promulgated regulations requiring environmental evaluation of Child Care Centers (CCC’s), existing and proposed.  Between early 2007 and 2012, PEA conducted approximately one hundred (100) Preliminary Assessments and obtained “No Further Action” letters (NFA’s) from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) for existing or proposed Child Care Centers.   In 2012, NFA’s were no longer being issued by NJDEP but instead CCC’s had to employ a Licensed Site Remediation Professional who would prepare a more detailed Preliminary Assessment (PA) and if appropriate, subsequently issue a Response Action Outcome (RAO).  PEA then started conducting detailed PA’s, site investigations (SI’s) and remediation subsequently issuing RAO’s.

A PA identifies whether or not there are Areas of Concern (AOC’s). When Areas of Concern (AOC’s) are identified, PEA subsequently addresses or resolves them, which is required in order to issue an RAO. These AOC’s included:

SITE INVESTIGATION

Addressing or resolving identified AOC’s initially requires sampling and analysis in order to determine either if contamination does exist or the degree or extent of these substances, contamination or problems.  PEA has extensive experience in sampling, having samples analyzed by a licensed laboratory.  Several of the buildings/sites which are now schools and child care centers were previously agricultural fields, factories, gasoline stations, drycleaners or other problem sites, and/or were adjacent to such sites or facilities. As such, PEA conducted additional studies including sampling (soils, groundwater, indoor air, mold, asbestos, lead-based paint, and radon), underground storage tank or asbestos removal and/or other site remediation actions, hopefully finding no contamination.

REMEDIATION

Occasionally, contamination is found and then site remediation/cleanup was required for identified AOC’s.  Professional Environmental Associates, LLC has conducted and/or supervised site remediation projects at CCC’s, through elimination or management of building and site contamination. Remediation included:

• Excavation/Removal – Underground Storage Tanks and/or soil
• Removal of lead, asbestos, mold, PCB’s
• Chemical elimination and/or cleanup
• Engineering controls – Ventilation, coating/encapsulation, enclosure, etc.
• Institutional Controls – Operational controls
• Other site remediation method

INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ASSESSMENTS

In 2009, the New Jersey Department of Children and Families (NJDCF) promulgated regulations requiring completion of an Indoor Environmental Health Assessments (IEHA) and CCC’s to obtain a Safe Building Interior Certification. In anticipation of Indoor Environmental regulations subsequent promulgated by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (subsequently changed to New Jersey Department of Health/NJDOH), PEA expanded their services by including analysis of the indoor environment.

Professional Environmental Associates was one of the first companies to become licensed by the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) as an Indoor Environmental Consultant, required to complete and submit an IEHA.  We have pulled together a team of experts/specialists trained and experienced in Mold, Lead, Asbestos, Radon, Vapor Intrusion, Chemistry, Toxicology, Indoor Air Quality and Outdoor Air Quality, in order to address all issues concerning the indoor environment. Our experts/specialists hold individual Federal and State Certificates and Licenses as well.

Since promulgation of the New Jersey Indoor Air Quality Regulations and their implementation by the NJDOH for schools and child care centers, PEA has been conducting and submitting Indoor Environmental Health Assessments, (IEHA’s) for these facilities, as well as for residential dwellings.

For the Indoor/Outdoor Air Quality Studies and IEHA’s, PEA’s staff has also conducted indoor and outdoor air sampling and vapor intrusion studies using Field Screening Test Kits, Direct-Reading Instrumentation (DRI) such as Photo-ionization Detectors (PID’s), Summa Canisters [one (1) and six (6) Liter], air pumps with filter or carbon cartridges or filters, Drager (or similar) colorimetric tubes and other portable monitoring equipment.

The sampling was not only to determine if there is contaminant exposure but to identify the source(s) of the vapors such as groundwater contamination, leaking Underground Storage Tanks (UST’s), contaminated Historic Fill, nearby Known Contaminated Sites, past site uses or operations and spills or releases. There have only been a few CCC’s with Indoor Air and Vapor Intrusion problems which PEA has identified, often resolved only by increasing ventilation or utilizing/installing air filters.