REAC Qualifying Exam cheat sheet

Legislation sets duties; regulations and guidelines fill in technical detail. A duty of care exists even where a specific limit is absent.

Standard hierarchy: statute (Act) > regulation > code of practice > guidance. Lower tiers are persuasive, not automatically enforceable.

Polluter-pays principle: the party who causes contamination bears investigation and remediation cost, regardless of land ownership history.

Cradle-to-grave responsibility follows waste from generation to final disposal; the generator retains liability if downstream handling fails.

Environmental permitting typically requires: operator identity, site description, emission/inventory data, monitoring plan, and BAT assessment.

Best Available Techniques (BAT): the most effective and advanced stage of development, considering cost-benefit; not simply the newest technology.

Statutory nuisance and harm thresholds often differ from permit limits; compliance with a permit does not automatically bar nuisance claims.

Record-retention periods are set by regulation, not by convenience; retain permits, monitoring records, and calibration logs for the stated period.

Notifiable incidents usually carry a strict clock (often 24 hours for verbal and 5-10 working days for written reports); check the applicable rule.

Risk = hazard (intrinsic property) x exposure (likelihood and magnitude of contact). Removing either term removes the risk.

Source-pathway-receptor model: all three must be linked for a risk to exist. Breaking any link is a valid remediation strategy.

Screening assessment compares site concentrations to generic assessment criteria; exceedance triggers site-specific (detailed) assessment.

Exposure routes to consider: ingestion, dermal contact, inhalation of dust/vapour, and leaching to groundwater.

Conceptual site model (CSM) documents sources, pathways, receptors, and the exposure linkages assessed; it drives the sampling plan.

Dose-response and toxicity reference values (TRVs) convert exposure into a risk estimate; uncertainty factors account for extrapolation.

ALARP: risk reduced as low as reasonably practicable; demonstration requires cost-benefit justification, not zero risk.

Environmental impact assessment stages: screening, scoping, baseline, impact prediction, mitigation, reporting, and post-decision monitoring.

Cumulative and transboundary impacts must be considered, not just the single-project footprint.

Representativeness beats precision: a precise analysis of a non-representative sample is still wrong.

Sampling plan elements: objective, analytes, locations, depth, frequency, method, containers, preservation, holding times, QA/QC.

Composite samples average conditions over time/space and hide peaks; discrete (grab) samples capture variability and spikes.

Holding times and preservation (pH, temperature, headspace) are analyte-specific; exceedance invalidates the result.

Sample containers: amber glass for organics, plastic for metals, headspace-free for volatiles; never reuse without decontamination.

Field blanks detect contamination introduced during sampling; trip blanks detect transport contamination for volatiles.

Monitoring design: baseline before impact, adequate control/reference locations, and sufficient replicates to detect the target effect size.

Continuous monitoring gives temporal resolution but needs calibration checks and data-validation rules; spot sampling gives spatial coverage.

Chain-of-custody records must be unbroken from collection to laboratory receipt, with dates, times, and signatures.

Data quality objectives (DQOs): define the decision, the acceptable error rate, and the data needed before sampling begins.

Precision = reproducibility (duplicates, RPD); accuracy = closeness to true value (certified reference materials, spikes).

Relative percent difference: RPD = |a - b| / ((a + b)/2) x 100; compare against the method's acceptance criterion.

Recovery: %R = (measured / expected) x 100; spike and CRM recoveries demonstrate bias control.

Detection limit: LOD is the level distinguishable from zero; LOQ is the level quantifiable with acceptable precision.

Laboratory QA/QC: method blanks, matrix spikes, matrix spike duplicates, calibration verification, and control charts.

Data validation tiers (e.g., screening vs. definitive) determine usability; report qualified data rather than deleting it.

Measurement uncertainty must be reported with results; a result without uncertainty is incomplete for decision-making.

Accreditation (ISO/IEC 17025) confirms competence, not that a specific result is correct; method validation still applies.

Reports must state: purpose, scope, methods, results, limitations, and conclusions; readers must be able to reproduce the work.

Units and reference conditions matter: report temperature, pressure, dry/wet basis, and detection limits alongside results.

Exceedance reporting: identify the limit, the measured value, the duration, and the corrective action taken.

Data tables should carry qualifiers (e.g., J = estimated, U = non-detect) and a legend explaining each.

Chain-of-custody, calibration records, and raw data are primary evidence; the report is a summary and must trace back to them.

Version control: date, author, reviewer, and approval signature on each revision; superseded versions clearly marked.

Confidentiality and data protection apply to personal and commercially sensitive information; redact consistently.

Cross-media consistency: air, water, and waste figures should reconcile with the same underlying inventory data.

Report results as measured; never suppress, alter, or selectively present data to fit a desired outcome.

Conflicts of interest must be disclosed in writing and managed; undisclosed conflicts undermine the whole assessment.

Competence boundary: decline or qualify work outside your expertise rather than overstating capability.

Confidentiality persists after the engagement ends; do not reuse client data without permission.

Whistleblowing: internal escalation first, then the regulator; document the concern and the response.

Independence: an assessor should not audit their own work; separate preparation from verification.

Regulatory non-compliance must be reported to the client and, where legally required, to the authority; concealment is itself an offence.

Ethical obligations can exceed legal minimums; professional codes bind members beyond statutory requirements.