The public depends on competent risk assessment from the federal government and the scientific community to grapple with the threat of pollution. When risk reports turn out to be overblownâ€"or when risks are overlookedâ€"public skepticism abounds. This comprehensive and readable book explores how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can improve its risk assessment practices, with a focus on implementation of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. With a wealth of detailed information, pertinent examples, and revealing analysis, the volume explores the "default option" and other basic concepts. It offers two views of EPA operations: The first examines how EPA currently assesses exposure to hazardous air pollutants, evaluates the toxicity of a substance, and characterizes the risk to the public. The second, more holistic, view explores how EPA can improve in several critical areas of risk assessment by focusing on cross-cutting themes and incorporating more scientific judgment. This comprehensive volume will be important to the EPA and other agencies, risk managers, environmental advocates, scientists, faculty, students, and concerned individuals.

Can the electric and magnetic fields (EMF) to which people are routinely exposed cause health effects? This volume assesses the data and draws conclusions about the consequences of human exposure to EMF. The committee examines what is known about three kinds of health effects associated with EMF: cancer, primarily childhood leukemia; reproduction and development; and neurobiological effects. This book provides a detailed discussion of hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization for each. Possible Health Effects of Exposure to Residential Electric and Magnetic Fields also discusses the tools available to measure exposure, common types of exposures, and what is known about the effects of exposure. The committee looks at correlations between EMF exposure and carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, neurobehavioral effects, reproductive and developmental effects, effects on melatonin and other neurochemicals, and effects on bone healing and stimulated cell growth.

The regulation of potentially hazardous substances has become a controversial issue. This volume evaluates past efforts to develop and use risk assessment guidelines, reviews the experience of regulatory agencies with different administrative arrangements for risk assessment, and evaluates various proposals to modify procedures. The book's conclusions and recommendations can be applied across the entire field of environmental health.

The field of occupational health and safety constantly changes, especially as it pertains to biomedical research. New infectious hazards are of particular importance at nonhuman-primate facilities. For example, the discovery that B virus can be transmitted via a splash on a mucous membrane raises new concerns that must be addressed, as does the discovery of the Reston strain of Ebola virus in import quarantine facilities in the U.S. The risk of such infectious hazards is best managed through a flexible and comprehensive Occupational Health and Safety Program (OHSP) that can identify and mitigate potential hazards. Occupational Health and Safety in the Care and Use of Nonhuman Primates is intended as a reference for vivarium managers, veterinarians, researchers, safety professionals, and others who are involved in developing or implementing an OHSP that deals with nonhuman primates. The book lists the important features of an OHSP and provides the tools necessary for informed decision-making in developing an optimal program that meets all particular institutional needs.

The purpose of the WHO Human Health Risk Assessment Toolkit: Chemical Hazards is to provide its users with guidance to identify, acquire and use the information needed to assess chemical hazards, exposures and the corresponding health risks in their given health risk assessment contexts at local and/or national levels. The Toolkit provides road maps for conducting a human health risk assessment, identifies information that must be gathered to complete an assessment and provides electronic links to international resources from which the user can obtain information and methods essential for conducting the human health risk assessment. By doing so, the Toolkit also raises awareness and promotes the use of globally accepted risk assessment information that has been developed by international organizations such as WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Codex Alimentarius Commission and OECD for use in countries. The Toolkit has been developed for public health and environmental professionals, regulators, industrial managers and other decision-makers with at least some training in the principles of risk assessment who are responsible for conducting human health risk assessments and making decisions on whether to take action to manage human health risks associated with exposure to chemicals.

Guides the reader through a risk assessment and shows them the proper tools to be used at the various steps in the process This brand new edition of one of the most authoritative books on risk assessment adds ten new chapters to its pages to keep readers up to date with the changes in the types of risk that individuals, businesses, and governments are being exposed to today. It leads readers through a risk assessment and shows them the proper tools to be used at various steps in the process. The book also provides readers with a toolbox of techniques that can be used to aid them in analyzing conceptual designs, completed designs, procedures, and operational risk. Risk Assessment: Tools, Techniques, and Their Applications, Second Edition includes expanded case studies and real life examples; coverage on risk assessment software like SAPPHIRE and RAVEN; and end-of-chapter questions for students. Chapters progress from the concept of risk, through the simple risk assessment techniques, and into the more complex techniques. In addition to discussing the techniques, this book presents them in a form that the readers can readily adapt to their particular situation. Each chapter, where applicable, presents the technique discussed in that chapter and demonstrates how it is used. Expands on case studies and real world examples, so that the reader can see complete examples that demonstrate how each of the techniques can be used in analyzing a range of scenarios Includes 10 new chapters, including Bayesian and Monte Carlo Analyses; Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) Analysis; Threat Assessment Techniques; Cyber Risk Assessment; High Risk Technologies; Enterprise Risk Management Techniques Adds end-of-chapter questions for students, and provides a solutions manual for academic adopters Acts as a practical toolkit that can accompany the practitioner as they perform a risk assessment and allows the reader to identify the right assessment for their situation Presents risk assessment techniques in a form that the readers can readily adapt to their particular situation Risk Assessment: Tools, Techniques, and Their Applications, Second Edition is an important book for professionals that make risk-based decisions for their companies in various industries, including the insurance industry, loss control, forensics, all domains of safety, engineering and technical fields, management science, and decision analysis. It is also an excellent standalone textbook for a risk assessment or a risk management course.