ARCHIVED - Public Involvement

The responsibilities for a custodial department dealing with a contaminated site are complex and challenging. The management of a contaminated site goes beyond simply removing harmful agents, and requires involving stakeholders who have significant concerns about the health and safety of their families and communities. If not addressed appropriately, these concerns can create an environment of distrust and frustration that can delay an assessment or remediation process.

Implementing meaningful public involvement strategies through all stages of site identification, assessment and clean up can help to develop stakeholder trust in these processes, and most importantly, stakeholder support for remediation plans. Public involvement can also improve departmental decision making by incorporating stakeholder advice and knowledge into the overall management plan for a contaminated site.

Stakeholders want effective mechanisms to ensure that they are appropriately informed, that their views are heard and that they have opportunities to influence decisions that have the potential to affect them. This is particularly true in a contaminated site assessment and clean up, where the actions and decisions taken by custodial departments have a real impact on the people living and working near the site and on their ability to manage their health.

A team of Public Involvement and Outreach Specialists is now available to provide custodial departments with expert guidance, training, and advice for a successful public involvement program. To find out more about the public involvement programs check out our fact sheets on the programs' components and the benefits of effective public involvement. If you have questions about effective public involvement strategies, how to develop a plan or if you would like someone to review your current public involvement framework, please feel free to contact us.