EMA West has additional capabilities that enhance the technical specialties required for hazardous waste management projects. These capabilities include project management expertise, quality assurance/quality control, health and safety training, and computer services.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT EXPERTISE

EMA West is experienced in mobilizing teams of selected professionals to conduct multiple investigations simultaneously, and has successfully managed hazardous waste projects ranging from small spills to large, multi disciplinary studies requiring multiple subcontractors.

The goal of EMA West project management system is to provide quality services that is responsive to the client's needs, on time, and within budget. To that end, every projects is assigned to a senior level project manager under the guidance of a principal of the firm. All projects utilize EMA West computerized project management system and follow internal policies regarding work task definition, budget management, and scheduling.

QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL

EMA West performs hazardous waste and environmental engineering-related investigations under a rigorous Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) program. This program has been established to provide thorough, consistent, high quality technical work on confidential, environmentally sensitive projects. The overall objectives of the QA/QC program are to develop, implement, and document procedures for obtaining and evaluating project-specific data in a precise and complete manner so that measurement data, sampling procedures, and field measurements provide information that is comparable and representative of actual field conditions. To that end, project-specific QA procedures are developed as needed for all field investigations, and formal technical reports are reviewed by the senior technical professional in the project, the Project Manager, a technical peer reviewer, and/or the project QA officer.

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS/WASTE HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING

All EMA West employees who conduct field investigations are required to complete 40-hour hazardous materials/waste health and safety training course, which meets EPA requirements for such investigations. Topics covered in the course include physical, chemical, and toxicological properties of hazardous materials; hazard evaluation and control; selection and use of personal protective equipment, including self-contained breathing apparatus and fully encapsulating suits; sampling and monitoring techniques and equipment; and site entrance and decontamination procedures. Managers of hazardous waste projects are also required to complete an 8-hour site safety management course, and all previously trained employees complete an 8-hour annual refresher course.

COMPUTER CAPABILITIES

EMA West' technical services require collecting and interpreting large amounts of data. The firm uses computers and technical information systems to validate and analyze these data and to prepare reports presenting findings and recommendations.

EMA West has acquired many computer programs for such applications as groundwater flow and parameter estimation; contaminant transport; water chemistry; groundwater extraction and injection; hydrologic graident; geological, geotechnical, and geophysical models; leachate seepage; air dispersion, contour plotting; and laboratory data interpretation and reduction.