Publications Document ESA Standard of Care - May 09, 2007

Silver Spring, MD: The standards of care applicable to Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) conducted from 1989 to 1998 are documented in a series of five publications now available from the Institute of Brownfield Professionals.

• Preacquisition Site Assessments: Recommended Management Procedures for Consulting Engineering Firms discusses the standard of care members of ASFE/The Best People on Earth said they followed in 1989 when conducting Phase I ESAs (then known as preacquisition site assessments). The report presents survey findings as guidance focusing on measures for successful market participation and procedures for report preparation. Appendices include a site assessment checklist, decision tree, and list of state statutes and regulations.
• Preliminary Site Assessments: The State of the Practice/Initial Report documents results of ASFE's 1990 Phase I ESA survey. Survey elements included ESA nomenclature, common constituents of ESA scopes of service, services ordinarily included in an ESA, scope elements needed to render an opinion of a site's condition, who in the firm performs ESA-related tasks, and a review of common elements included in respondents' scopes of service and reports.
• Phase I Environmental Site Assessments: The State of the Practice was based on 1992 data derived from questionnaire responses and a review of actual reports. While information discussed in prior reports is reviewed, the report makes an important distinction between what survey respondents said they were doing and what examination of reports revealed actually was occurring.
• Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments: National Procedures Review
  covers both Phase I and Phase II ESA procedures used in 1994. The first survey to delineate Phase II ESA practices, it reveals relatively little consensus, suggesting that Phase II ESAs are far more client- and site-specific than Phase I ESAs. Phase II ESA research was conducted through written questionnaires and a review of actual reports and their accompanying proposals. The questionnaire identified 140 items that might be included in a Phase II ESA report, with at least one of every two respondents saying they included 84 of the items at least 75% of the time. By contrast, materials review indicated that only 15 of the items probably fell into the same category.
• Phase I Environmental Site Assessments: State of the Practice 1997-1998 is based on a survey of 272 firms responsible for some 41,000 Phase I ESA reports per year. The survey team examined 162 Phase I ESA reports submitted by 148 firms that prepared about 22,000 Phase I ESA reports annually during the 1997-98 survey period. The team’s objective was to learn how many of the reports included the 53 mandatory elements of ASTM E1527-97. Shockingly, not one of the reports claiming strict compliance with the ASTM standard strictly complied.

According to Institute Executive Director John Bachner, “These reports have been used extensively over the years to document what the standard of care actually was. Too often, opposing experts will perform no research to establish the standard of care, then claim it was something it was not, to help their clients win the case. Experts are supposed to avoid advocacy. They are there to support the cause of justice by performing genuine research and reporting the truth. These documents will help.” Originally prepared by ASFE/The Best People on Earth, the reports are made available through the Institute on an exclusive basis.