Health and environmental risk analysis

Analysis of health-environmental risk

The analysis of health and environmental risk is currently the most advanced tool for decision support in the management of contaminated sites that allows to assess, in a quantitative way, the risks to human health related to the presence of pollutants in environmental matrices.

The starting point for the application of risk analysis is the development of the Conceptual Model of the Site (MCS), based on the identification and parameterization of the main 3 elements:

1) the source of contamination;
2) the routes of migration of pollutants through environmental matrices;
3) targets or receptors of the contamination on the site or its surroundings.

It's possible to determine a risk to human health only if in a given site the 3 elements are present and connected together.

The calculation of risk as codified by the National Academy of Science (NAS, 1983) follows four phases (see figure).
The risk estimated is compared to the acceptance criteria defined by the legislation. The risk analysis may be applied as described above in a direct way (forward), estimating the risk associated with the contamination detected in the site; or in the reverse order (backward), starting from the criteria of risk acceptability, for the determination of acceptable levels of contamination and remediation goals for the site in question.

SNPA technical document on software applications for site specific risk assessment of contaminated sites

Different software packages are available at national and international level for the evaluation of Risk Threshold Concentrations (CSR) according to Italian legislation on contaminated sites management (Legislative Decree 152/06, Part IV, Title V - Annex 1).
Experts and consultants of private companies, according to their autonomy and technical competences, select the most appropriate software tool under their own responsibility on the risk assessment study.
Control authorities verify software simulations and results evaluating their compliance to the technical provisions of reference documents (Manuals and Guidelines) issued by Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE), National System for Environmental Protection (SNPA) and other public technical bodies (National Health Institute - ISS and National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work - INAIL).
The SNPA technical document is a revision of the software packages evaluation included in the Manual “Methodological Criteria for the application of risk assessment to contaminated sites” Rev 2 of 2008, considering the most updated technical and legislative provisions, the new versions of the already examined software tools and the release of new applications.
This product is aimed to support SNPA for the evaluation of site-specific risk assessment documents, and particularly of the software tools, to have a homogeneous and common application.
The document is the result of the reporting /critical issues on software applications collected by ISPRA and SNPA during last years and represents a synthesis of the experiences of the System on this topic.

Related documents

Methodological criteria for the application of the absolute risk analysis

The documents "Methodological criteria for the application of the absolute risk analysis to the contaminated sites" and "Methodological criteria for the application of the absolute risk analysis to dumps" were elaborated by the working group ARPA/APPA, ISS, ISPESL, ICRAM established and coordinated by ISPRA. The objective is the development and review of technical documents containing the theoretical and applied indications for technicians of the Public Administrations, researchers, professionals and operators in the sector who prepare and/or evaluate remediation projects of contaminated sites containing elaborations of health and environmental risk analysis. The approach used in the manuals refers to the standard RBCA dell'ASTM (E 1739-95, and 2081-00).
The appendices to the methodological criteria describe in detail the criteria used and the analyzes carried out for the identification and selection of the equations.

For any question concerning the application of the methodological criteria, please contact us at: criterimetodologici@isprambiente.it.

ISS-INAIL database for Health and Environmental Risk Analysis

Here following, the link to the MASE site with the latest update of the database.

Database ISS-INAIL for AdR

Update: September 2020