Risk assessment is a core component of contaminated sites work, often connecting site investigation data with decisions about risk management, remediation, and regulatory compliance. 

GeoEnviroPro offers “Environmental Mini Series” on key topics to provide emerging professionals and practitioners with a focused introduction to key concepts and practical considerations in contaminated sites risk assessment. This three-part Environmental Mini Series focuses on risk assessment for contaminated sites. We will have input from GEP’s emerging professionals to focus content on what will be useful. 

Through a combination of presentations and interactive discussion, we will explore how risk assessment fits within the broader contaminated sites framework, how conceptual site models support effective problem formulation, and what site investigators can do to collect data that supports defensible risk assessments. 

Sessions will be led by experienced practitioners and GeoEnviroPro partners, Scott Steer and Beth Power, who practice primarily in the BC and FCSAP regimes; therefore, we are also inviting senior practitioners from other provinces (e.g., Alberta and Ontario) to contribute to discussions so that it spans regulatory regimes. Other GeoEnviroPro partners (e.g., Reidar Zapf-Gilje) will participate in discussions. 

Each session will be 1.5 hours long, consisting of an hour-long presentation followed by an optional ½ hour demonstration, Q&A, and discussion.

Instructors:

Beth Power, MSc, RPBio, CSAP (Risk) 

Beth Power has been an environmental consultant for over 35 years and part of Azimuth Consulting Group for 22 years. Regardless of the regulatory context (e.g., contaminated sites, permitting, watersheds, releases/spills) her practice often interfaces between parties that want to understand and manage environmental contamination. Beth’s contaminated sites projects tend to use risk assessment and management to strategically bridge from site investigation to certification/site closure. Beth is a Contaminated Site Approved Professional for Risk-based Standards, on the CSAP Board and Governance Committee, and she chairs the CSAP Discipline Committee.  

Scott Steer, MET, RPBio 

Scott is an environmental toxicologist and partner at Active Earth Engineering Ltd., specializing in the performance and technical management of contaminated sites risk assessment. He is an Approved Risk Assessment Specialist with the Society of Contaminated Sites Approved Professionals of British Columbia with more than twenty years of experience in contaminated site assessment, human health and ecological risk assessment, and environmental toxicology. 

Format

• Three virtual sessions (Zoom) 
• 1-hour presentation + 30-minute discussion in each session 
• Designed for emerging professionals and practitioners looking to deepen their understanding of specific risk assessment topics 

Dates & Time 

Sep 17, October 1 and 15, 2026
10:30 – 12:00 AM PT 

Environmental Mini Series: Risk Assessment

Session One – Overview of Contaminated Sites Risk Assessment – Scott Steer and Beth Power – September 17, 2026

This opening session introduces the foundational concepts that underpin risk assessment for contaminated sites. Participants will explore how risk assessment fits within the broader contaminated sites framework and how it connects with site investigation, regulatory requirements, and decision-making. 

The session will outline the key steps in the risk assessment process and explain the conceptual and regulatory drivers that guide how risk assessments are conducted across jurisdictions. It will also provide context for the topics explored in the remaining sessions of this Environmental Mini Series. 

Topics include 

• Core concepts that underpin risk assessment 
• The risk assessment framework and key steps 
• Importance of RA objectives in designing an RA 
• The relationship between site investigation and risk assessment 
• Regulatory drivers and considerations; we will  involve senior practitioners from various provinces to discuss how regimes vary 

Session Two – Problem Formulation and Screening Contaminants of Potential Concern (COPCs) – Scott Steer – October 1, 2026

Problem formulation is a critical step in developing a defensible risk assessment for a contaminated site. In this session, we will focus on tips related to the topics identified below.  

Topics include 

• Problem formulation 
  • Conceptual site models 
  • Using conceptual site models to define measurement endpoints 
  • Receptors, pathways, and exposure considerations 
• Bridging from site investigation to risk assessment 
• COPC screening approaches and guidance 
  • Communicating results using screening tables and figures 
  • Understanding screening values – their origins and applications 
  • Addressing duplicates, detection limits, and data gaps 
  • Options for handling substances without regulatory screening values 
• Bioaccumulative substances 
• Addressing background concentrations 

Session Three – What Risk Assessors Wish Site Investigators Knew – Scott Steer and Beth Power – October 15, 2026

The final session takes a practical, discussion-based approach to exploring how site investigation data supports effective risk assessment. Drawing on real-world experience, the instructors and senior participants from other provinces will discuss common gaps in site characterization (when RA is anticipated) and what investigators can do to collect data that strengthens risk assessments. 

Topics include: 

• Conceptual site models for risk assessment vs. detailed site investigation to ensure site characterization data support exposure assessment for the risk assessment 
• Soil 
  • Planning exposure estimates for receptors 
  • Informing bioavailability (physiologically based extraction technique and other approaches) 
• Groundwater 
  • Understanding contaminant plume behaviour and migration in relation to RA 
  • Demonstrating “stable and improving” site conditions 
  • Establishing water use / drinking water considerations 
• Vapour 
  • Vapour measurements at breathing height 
  • Demonstrating “stable and improving” site conditions 
  • Seasonal and future conditions 
• Sediment 
  • Challenges with establishing background in some settings 
  • Factors that modify toxicity 
• Biological considerations during site investigation 
  • Thinking ahead to tissue sampling (including traditional foods and medicines) 
  • Planning for synoptic sampling with RA measurement endpoints