Hazard Assessment and Contaminated Sites

Hazard Assessment is a key component of Human Health Risk Assessment and is comprised of the steps of Hazard Identification and Dose-response Assessment. Hazard Identification examines the capacity of a contaminant to cause adverse health effects in humans and other animals using data from a range of toxicological and epidemiological sources. Dose-response Assessment considers both qualitative and quantitative toxicological and epidemiological information to estimate the incidence of adverse effects occurring in human populations at different exposure levels. The conclusions from Hazard Assessment are assessed with those from Exposure Assessment to enable Risk Characterisation. This chapter provides an overview of the toxicological and epidemiological tools used for Hazard Assessment to enable a broader understanding of the Risk Assessment of contaminated sites and the principles underlying the development of risk-based policy and Soil Quality Standards.