March, 2017

Girl Power: STEM Students Visit ARA

ARA had some special visitors this month! Students from Stratham Girl Scout Troop 10228 recently took a field trip over to our offices in Portsmouth, NH as part of a unit in which the girls are being encouraged to look at stereotypes. The group has been discussing gender, age and occupation in terms of role models, "trying on new hats" and exploring careers that they might not have thought about before.

 

Troop Leader Tracy Hall set up the visit with ARA because she thought it would fit right in with many of the issues they had been discussing. She wanted to show the girls a successful woman-owned firm, with women in STEM and leadership roles. ARA employs 25, 13 of which are female and 4 of which are on the Senior Management Team. The Girl Scouts took a tour of the facility and heard from various women who work there about their jobs, which range from CFO and Federal Project Manager, to Quality Officer, Site Safety Officer, Lab Analyst, Lab Manager and Marketing Director.

 

ARA staff members spoke to the Troop about how our analysts test for various contaminants found in drinking water, the types of projects we’ve been managing over at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and the importance of our Certifications and Quality Department. But the girls’ favorite moment was hearing our very enthusiastic  Analyst, Alison Keith, talk about her passion for mold, and peeking into the microscope to see stachybotrys and pithomyces at 400x magnification! Cool! Good luck, girls, and come back any time!  (#withcookies) ;) 

 

 

Don't Open A Can of Worms

Some of our least favorite calls come from clients we just wish had called us earlier, so we could have saved them from a whole lot of frustration. Their stories are similar; they dove head first into a huge renovation project on an old building, only to find out the debris they're all now standing in may contain asbestos, lead, PCBs, or all of the above.

 

You know the saying, ignorance of the law is no excuse. Besides the various health concerns facing anyone who enters a contaminated area, the financial and legal implications in these situations can be absolutely devastating. The importance of accurately making hazardous waste determinations on each and every project cannot be overstated, as it is the most common violation of RCRA regulations. 

 

ARA is certified to conduct hazardous waste surveys for renovations and demolitions; we know the laws, we know the industry, we understand our client’s budget and deadline constraints, and our goals are to always keep everyone safe and compliant. Be sure to give us a call if you have questions about this complex issue. And if you are in a position to help spread the word about environmental compliance and the risks of hazardous materials, please do! Remember, ignorance is no excuse.

ARA is your Resource for

PFAS Testing

You may have heard the news that NHDES is requesting that the following sites should include PFAS as part of their groundwater sampling programs going forward:

  • Active hazardous waste sites
  • Sites with active groundwater management permits
  • Sites with ongoing environmental site evaluation
  • Sites where hazardous wastes / hazardous substance are suspected to be have been released
  • Sites with a history of processes using PFAS
  • Facilities that may have used products containing PFAS
  • Landfills
  • Sites with groundwater release detection permits
  • Fire training areas, airports or sites where significant quantities of aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) may have been applied.

 

ARA is accepting PFAS (PFOA / PFOS) samples at our laboratory in Portsmouth. If you manage one of these sites & need pricing or courier service, give us a call or click here to send us an email.  

 

The Resource Rambler Newsletter is brought to you by

your friends at Absolute Resource Associates
124 Heritage Ave. Unit #16 Portsmouth, NH 03801
www.absoluteresourceassociates.com  ©2017

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