Zoom into Soil: Contaminated Soils and the Impact on Human Health

Our first speaker is Graham O’Mahony who talks about the following topics: Asbestos In soils – Finding it!; Asbestos Contamination – General Sources; Types of contamination; Training – Geo-Technical; How it’s found? – Preliminary Assessment – Main Survey; Results; Case study.
Graham O’Mahony has worked in the asbestos industry for over 20 years with roles including ‘Building Surveyor’ for the local authority, managing their asbestos issues. For nearly 30 years, he has worked in the construction industry. Since leaving the public sector, Graham has worked as an asbestos training consultant, dealing with all aspects of asbestos training, and assisting clients in all matters relating to asbestos, including contaminated land and land remediation. Graham is the managing director of Asbestos Training Limited and is also the chairman of UKATA.

Our second speaker is Margaret Oliver who is a BSSS Honorary Member. Margaret’s research interests have included the application of a wide range of numerical and geostatistical methods to soil and other data including pollen counts, forestry, radon emission, remotely sensed imagery, precision agriculture and the incidence of childhood cancer. Specific interests were in sample design for spatial analysis and eventual mapping, risk analysis associated with prescribed thresholds in relation to soil pollutants or deficiencies of crop nutrients, and the relations between different scales of spatial variation. She has published over 100 reviewed academic papers and has also made several contributions to books.