Research and development of a prototype software application using digital scanning technology to capture, record and process hazardous materials data

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Peak Environmental Ltd provides consulting services for a range of property types, including vacant land, buildings and heavy industrial facilities. These services include the identification, assessment and remediation of hazardous materials (hazmats) such as asbestos, lead paint, mould and mercury. The firm boasts a large team of qualified professionals, including engineers, registered environmental assessors, licensed remediation specialists and asbestos building inspectors. These experts have extensive knowledge of federal, provincial and municipal environmental regulations and standards concerning hazardous materials. Currently, when the firm assesses the presence of hazmats at a client site, they employ a manual process to identify and inventory the hazards found. The data is entered into Excel spreadsheets where it is stored, processed and used for client reporting purposes. As governments make regulatory changes regarding acceptable levels of hazmats there is a need for Peak Environmental Ltd to rapidly adopt the new standards into their inspection process to advise clients of remediation work needed. This means keeping the data up-to-date, adopting new procedures for removal of hazmats and creating a record of work performed. However, Peak's existing manual process of recording hazmat data is slow, prone to error and does not allow the company to react in a timely manner to update clients when new hazmat regulations are mandated. The firm wishes to partner with researchers at Okanagan College to develop a prototype mobile software application using digital code scanning technology to enable rapid capture and processing of hazmat data. The data will be immediately inputted into a database containing an up-to-date inventory of hazmats at a client site. This will allow the firm to more rapidly respond to government regulation changes, increase data accuracy and reduce the amount of manual work involved. The mobile app will also help mitigate sampling/inspection duplication and prevent potential injury due to changes in site conditions not being accurately reflected. This new digital process will represent a significant shift from manual to automated hazmat data capture, storage and processing, allowing the firm to realize substantial cost savings and improved efficiencies.