NF ISO 10381-5

This document provides guidance on the design and execution of preliminary investigations comprising desk studies and site reconnaissance, and where appropriate, preliminary risk assessment. It is applicable whenever sampling exercises or investigations are to be carried out to determine soil quality.

This document gives guidance on the: — investigation of sites, where either it is known that soil contamination is present, or the presence of soil contamination is suspected; — investigation of sites where no soil contamination is expected, but the soil quality is to be determined (e.g. to make sure that there is no contamination present); — investigation in anticipation of a need to manage re-use or disposal of excavated soil which might be contaminated; — collection of information that is necessary for risk assessment and/or the development of remedial action plans (e.g. whether remediation is required and suggestions as to how this might be best achieved). Although the information on soil quality for the risk assessment and/or the development of remedial action plans is gathered by applying this document, it does not give guidance on the decisions and actions that follow from a site investigation, for example, risk assessment and decisions about the requirements for remediation (if any).

This document gives general guidance on the development of site investigation strategies and detailed guidance on the development of sampling strategies, when collecting information on — the average properties of soil, — the variability of soil properties, and — the spatial distribution of soil properties. It is applicable to soil samples intended for chemical testing and determination of a variety of other properties (e.g. physical). Although the main focus of this document is the collection of material (field samples) for transfer to a laboratory for testing, it is also applicable when measurements are made directly in the field. NOTE 1 This document also provides information on the statistical principles underlying the development of appropriate sampling strategies and statistical methodologies. NOTE 2 Guidance on other forms of related sampling activities are given in other International Standards [for soil gas (ISO 18400-204) and for biological testing purposes (ISO 18400-206)]. Guidance on sampling groundwater is provided in ISO 5667-11 and ISO 5667-22 and on sampling methods and groundwater measurements in geotechnical investigations in ISO 22475-1.