Designated Substances Survey (DSS) in Windsor

Before a construction, renovation, or demolition project goes to tender in Ontario, the owner is required to determine whether designated substances are present and to give that list to every contractor bidding the work. That document is the designated substances survey. We produce DSS reports for Windsor and Essex County projects: sampled, lab-verified, and formatted so your contractor, and if it comes to it, the Ministry of Labour, gets exactly what the regulation expects.

Call (226) 773-8831 with your project scope, or send the form and we'll quote the survey.

Why the DSS exists, in plain terms

Section 30 of Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act puts the duty on the project owner: identify the designated substances on site before work starts, in writing, to everyone bidding. If the owner skips it and workers hit asbestos mid-demo, the liability lands on the owner, the project stops, and the cleanup happens at emergency pricing under a Ministry order. A DSS is how you keep that day from happening. General contractors in Windsor increasingly refuse to price a job without one attached to the tender package, because the regulation makes them responsible for passing it down to every subcontractor.

The eleven designated substances

Ontario designates eleven substances. In buildings, the ones that actually show up are:

• Asbestos. The big one, in pipe insulation, fireproofing, floor tiles, joint compound, plaster, and transite. In Windsor's pre-1990 stock it should be assumed until sampled.
• Lead. Paint in pre-1980 buildings, solder, some flashings and pipes.
• Silica. Concrete, brick, and masonry, relevant the moment anyone cuts or grinds it.
• Mercury. Thermostats, switches, fluorescent lamps.
• PCBs live in old light ballasts and transformers (technically handled under separate rules, but flagged in a good survey).

The remaining substances (acrylonitrile, arsenic, benzene, coke oven emissions, ethylene oxide, isocyanates, vinyl chloride) are industrial-process chemicals: rare in ordinary buildings but relevant for some of Windsor's plants, and a proper DSS addresses them rather than ignoring them.

What we deliver

1. Site inspection. We walk the project area, identify suspect materials, and document locations and conditions with photos.
2. Sampling and lab analysis. Bulk samples of suspect asbestos materials and paint samples for lead go to a CALA-accredited laboratory under chain of custody.
3. The DSS report. Substance-by-substance findings mapped to the building, lab certificates attached, and clear statements of what's present, where, and in what condition. Written to be handed directly to bidders.
4. Work classification guidance. For asbestos findings, the report identifies what Ontario's O. Reg. 278/05 would classify the planned disturbance as (Type 1, 2, or 3), so contractors can price abatement properly instead of padding for the unknown.

What the DSS report itself contains

A DSS report is not a one-line pass or fail. Contractors and the Ministry of Labour expect it structured so anyone bidding the job can act on it without calling us first:

• A substance-by-substance summary, listing each of the eleven designated substances and whether it was found, not found, or assumed positive because it could not be safely sampled.
• A location map or floor-by-floor breakdown, tying each finding to where it actually is in the building, not just "asbestos present somewhere."
• Material condition notes, since a positive material in good condition is priced differently than one that is already damaged or friable.
• The lab certificates, attached as backup for every sample referenced in the summary.
• A work classification note for asbestos findings, mapping the planned disturbance to O. Reg. 278/05 Type 1, 2, or 3, so bidders price the actual category instead of the worst case.

That structure is what turns the report into something a general contractor can hand straight to subtrades, rather than a document someone has to interpret.

DSS versus air quality testing

These get confused because both involve sampling. A DSS is a pre-project survey of building materials, done before anything is disturbed, to identify what is present. Air quality or clearance testing is different: it samples the air itself, usually after abatement work or when something has already been disturbed, to confirm the space is safe to reoccupy. A project can need both, in sequence: the DSS identifies what is present before work starts, and air testing confirms the air is clear once the identified material has been removed. See our asbestos air testing page for that second step.

Windsor projects that need this

• Demolition of any pre-1990 structure, houses included
• Commercial unit fit-outs and renovations where walls, ceilings, or floors get opened
• Municipal, school board, and institutional work (their tender templates require the DSS)
• Plant maintenance shutdowns where insulation and coatings get disturbed
• Fire and flood restoration work on older buildings, where the reno starts whether anyone planned it or not

Windsor's building stock makes this routine: most structures in the core neighbourhoods and the industrial corridors predate the asbestos phase-out. Owners who build the DSS into the project schedule from day one never think about it again. Owners who discover the requirement from their GC's lawyer lose weeks.

Common questions

Call (226) 773-8831 with your project address and scope, or send the form. Quotes are quick.