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What is a
contaminated site?
Who does
what?
Why is it important?
What is risk management?
Risk assessment
fundamentals
Risk assessment
methods
Limitations
of risk assessment
What are RA tiers?
Initiation
Problem Identification
Receptor
Characterisation
Exposure Assessment
Toxicity Assessment
Risk
Characterisation
RM Decisions
Glossary
FAQ's
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There are a variety of reports that advocate various approaches to undertaking
risk assessment. We have focused on methodologies proposed within regulatory
resource management settings in New Zealand, Australia, USA, and Canada.
The approaches reviewed contain varying degrees of complexity in
investigation and many are related specifically to the local legislative
requirements.
Each
has a slightly different emphasis, depending on the focus of the agency and the
types of sites expected to be encountered.
For example, the USEPA ecological
risk assessment approach focuses specifically on Superfund sites which are
typically very large and complex. Obviously, this will not be an appropriate
focus for the majority of New Zealand sites.
Most of the approaches to risk assessment promote increasing (or tiered)
levels of investigation separated by decision steps. These steps evaluate the
need for further investigation in light of the cost of remedial actions,
assessed ecological or human health risks, the costs of further investigation,
and the regulatory environment.
More detailed information on
risk assessment methodologies is available in the Advanced
RA section of this
website.
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