Journey
Set up a remediation business
Learning path for remediation and decontamination businesses. Work out which regulations apply, put your workplace foundations in place, meet your environmental, waste and construction duties and verify everything with a compliance checklist.
What this journey is for
Remediation and decontamination generate controlled waste, routinely disturb hazardous materials (asbestos, hydrocarbons, heavy metals) and constitute construction work. Environmental permits, waste carrier registration, the contaminated land regime, asbestos controls, CDM construction duties, hazardous waste handling and the waste duty of care all apply. The Environment Agency (England), Natural Resources Wales, SEPA (Scotland) and NIEA (Northern Ireland) regulate waste and environmental permits. HSE enforces CDM, asbestos and the workplace health and safety foundation. This journey walks you through that path in the order you will live it.
It does not give you the step-by-step instructions — those live in the guides it points to. This is the map: it tells you where you are, why each stage matters, and which guide to open next.
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Work out which regulations apply to you
Start by getting the picture right. Every remediation business shares the same workplace foundation, but the environmental, waste and construction duties depend on what materials you handle, what sites you work on and whether you carry others' waste. Use the router guide to map out your obligations before you commit.
Which remediation and waste management rules apply to your business
Work out which rules apply. A reference guide that routes you from the shared workplace foundation to the environmental, waste and construction duties.
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Put your workplace foundations in place
These are the duties every remediation business shares. Risk-assess every site — contaminated ground, confined-space entry, exposure to hazardous substances, biological agents and unstable structures — hold employers' liability insurance and meet your equality and data protection duties. Fire risk on remediation sites is covered by CDM welfare provisions and the general duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Build this in from the start.
Set up and run a safe remediation operation
The duties every remediation business shares — general health and safety, employers' liability insurance, equality and data protection.
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Meet your environmental, waste and construction duties
Environmental permits for waste operations, waste carrier registration, the contaminated land regime, asbestos control, CDM construction duties, hazardous waste handling and the waste duty of care — these are the sector-specific duties that sit on top of the workplace spine. This guide covers the lot, naming the correct regulator and the devolved variations.
Meet your environmental permits, waste and construction duties for remediation
Environmental permits, waste carrier registration, contaminated land, asbestos, CDM, hazardous waste and the waste duty of care.
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Verify you have covered everything
Once the workplace spine is operating and the environmental, waste and construction duties are in place, take a step back and check the whole picture holds together. A compliance checklist lets you confirm, in one place, that each obligation is genuinely met rather than assumed.
Remediation: compliance checklist
Verify you have covered everything — workplace duties, environmental permits, waste carrier registration, contaminated land, asbestos, CDM, hazardous waste and the waste duty of care.
Where this leaves you
You now have the shape of the whole task: work out which rules apply, put your workplace foundations in place, meet the environmental, waste and construction duties and verify the lot. Work the guides in order and you will have a clear, defensible position before you start operations.