The Department of Environment (DoE) published a series of 47 industry profiles in 1995. A project to update 15 of the profiles was undertaken in 2025/26 with funding from the Environment Agency, Association of Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental Specialists and Natural Resources Wales. The 15 updated profiles draw on information from the original documents and present the information in a simple interactive matrix, with further information available on each profile as an individual page. The profiles were kindly reviewed by industry volunteers which was a key part of the project (steering group and volunteers acknowledged here). The profile pages can be accessed by clicking the View Profiles button below.
The original profiles were scanned and created into PDF documents by Defra and are available from the National Archives (DoE Industry Profiles). Part of the recent project has been to make these scanned documents available as searchable PDF downloads and these are also available by clicking the View Profiles button. As scanned documents, their quality is poorer than normally provided, however their usefulness to the risk management process is such that it was still felt important to make them available. The original profiles provide information on the processes, materials and waste associated with individual industries with regard to land contamination. They are not definitive studies but they introduce some of the technical considerations that need to be borne in mind at the start of an investigation for possible contamination.
IMPORTANT: This information must only be used as a guide to understand what potential contamination may be associated with a specific industry.
