Health and safety and environment update.

Backman, R.R.

Abstract
Current and forthcoming US and Canadian legislation on environmental protection and on health and safety is reviewed. In the USA, most of the relevant legislation is imposed at federal level (e.g. the Clear Air Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Clean Water Act and the regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the US Department of Labor) although some states have their own systems equivalent to or stricter than the corresponding federal laws. In Canada, on the other hand, apart from the Transport of Dangerous Goods Act, these matters are only covered by provincial legislation and the law accordingly varies among the different provinces. The defence of due diligence is discussed together with management procedures for ensuring compliance with safety and environmental legislation and the documentation of these procedures in order to be able to provide evidence of due diligence if required.
Keywords : environmental protection legislation safety survey