Category: Assessment And Management Of Health And Environmental Risks

While many industrial facilities may recognize the benefits of communication, many are reluctant to devote the necessary time and money to initiating community outreach programs. Some managers believe that if people are already getting information in ways over which industry has no control, there is no point in fighting the process. In fact, they are wise…

A key component of successful environmental and health risk management for any industry is an effective community outreach, or social responsibility program. This is even more important today than in the past, given the current explosion in public access and exposure to, and interest in, information regarding local health and environmental issues. The internet provides…

Three‐dimensional representations of toxic effects are rare. Only concentration–time–response models can be readily derived from conventional test data. Functions of this sort can be derived from the data that are required from flow‐through 96‐hour LC50 tests of fish by ASTM and EPA protocols (ASTM 1991; USEPA 1982). Such models have the obvious advantage of allowing the assessor to…

5.4.5.1 One‐Dimensional Models Most ecological assessments depend on one‐dimensional models of toxicant/organism interaction, and in most cases that dimension is concentration. Because toxicology is historically the science of poisons, the fundamental paradigm of toxic effects is the single lethal dose. To the poisoner, duration of exposure, severities other than mortality and even the exact proportion…

The concept of de manifestis risk is not controversial because some effects are clearly unacceptable. However, the idea that some exposures to and effects of pollutants are acceptable (de minimis) is controversial. The use of the de minimis concept is based on the following considerations: Since we cannot prevent all human effects on the environment,…

Those charged with risk management for human health are fully aware that some risks have consequences so dire that they must be avoided no matter what the cost. Risks so obviously unacceptable are called de manifestis. The companion concept, de minimis, which we shall explore shortly, points to the existence of risks with consequences so…

Determining risk severity is one of a risk manager’s first tasks. On this basis, he or she must decide whether a given risk is unacceptable, hence must be reduced or prevented with monitoring, or can be accepted, at least for the present. The risks associated with possible alternatives must be considered, as well. For example,…

Risk management, the process of decision‐making that attempts to minimize risks without undue harm to other societal values, should be performed independently of risk analysis (NRC 1983). Since, however, the effectiveness of a risk analysis depends on the successful interaction of the risk analyst and the risk manager, we discuss risk management briefly. The risk analysts do…

Ozone is formed in the troposphere when sunlight causes complex photochemical reactions involving oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and VOCs that originate chiefly from gasoline engines and burning of other fossil fuels. Woody vegetation is another major source of VOCs (e.g. isoprene or terpene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, methyl‐ethyl‐ketone, acetone, etc.). NOx and VOCs can be transported long distances…

Sampling and Surveys Although general sampling issues will have necessarily been addressed before the ERA reached the effects assessment stage, it is worthwhile to note a few of them here. This will ensure that the risk assessor has mentioned and considered the potential impacts of these issues. Field surveys and ambient media chemical analyses are…