Contaminated land: can acute exposure be a significant health risk? Two case studies and associated risk assessment methods.
Contaminated land risk assessments generally focus on the chronic health risks, arising from long-term, low-level exposure to the contaminants, and a number of risk assessment tools are in routine use. Situations where significant acute risks might be present are not commonly encountered, and methods for risk assessment are less well established. We present two recent case studies from the northwest of England, the first an area of public open space, and the second an occupied school site, with the associated risk assessments.
Public Health England, Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Sentinel House, Albert Street, Eccles, Manchester, M30 0NJ, UK. george.kowalczyk@phe.gov.uk.
George
G
Kowalczyk
Mark
M
Brown
Rebecca
R
Twigg
William
W
Welfare
Yolande
Y
Macklin
D002857:Chromium / Q000633:toxicity*; D003486:Cyanides / Q000633:toxicity*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D006256:Hazardous Waste / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis; D064371:Hazardous Waste Sites; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D014481:United States
D003486:Cyanides; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D006256:Hazardous Waste; D002857:Chromium; C074702:chromium hexavalent ion