Testing and Site Remediation
WORK Inc. provides onsite training and employment for disabled individuals, most of whom have significant developmental or cognitive disabilities. WORK Inc. is fully accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities with its highest rating, and licensed by the MA Department of Developmental Services. As a human services agency, WORK Inc. places a high premium on human health and safety. It has a health and safety committee, with external members including an insurance risk manager, to ensure that the agency is engaging in safe practices with minimal, if any, risks to human health and the environment.
WORK Inc. decided to relocate from 3 Arlington Street in Quincy, Massachusetts to Dorchester, Massachusetts because the buildings at the Quincy site were in extremely poor condition. When a due diligence assessment was performed at the Quincy site, several contaminants, including chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs), arsenic, cadmium, lead, and nickel were detected in soil and groundwater. The sources of these compounds were found to be a former foundry, machine shop, and plating facility that were located at the site well before WORK Inc. took ownership. Because they did not cause the contamination, WORK Inc. was eligible for a Brownfields Grant from the USEPA to pay for the cleanup. T&H assisted with the preparation of the grant application and a remedial grant of $200,000 was received by WORK Inc. – the first eligible party in the entire City of Quincy to receive such funds.
WORK Inc. moved to the Dorchester facility and the Quincy facility was razed to allow for redevelopment and to give better access to the contaminated soil and groundwater. The demolition project was coordinated by T&H, who provided field observation and coordination services.
Approximately 800 cubic yards of metals contaminated soil were excavated and disposed offsite.  During the excavation, T&H collected soil samples from the sidewalls and bottoms of the excavations for screening with a portable x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer. Soil samples from the periphery of the excavation were then sent for confirmatory analyses at a laboratory to verify that significant concentrations of metals do not remain in soil at the site.
To address the CVOCs, T&H coordinated the drilling of four membrane interface probes (MIPs) to gather continuous CVOC data that were used to further define the vertical and horizontal extent of contamination and soil stratification. These data indicate that the highest response to CVOCs was an approximate ten foot zone of soil located just above the bedrock. Based on the MIPs data, T&H observed the installation of deep groundwater monitoring wells that were constructed with short screen sections set on top of the bedrock. T&H is currently implementing a pilot test to evaluate the effectiveness of enhanced bioremediation for the remediation of the CVOCs in groundwater.