Human Health Assessment

Successful human health assessments should not only identify potential risks, but also provide cost-effective remedial options.

MWH has performed numerous, highly successful human health risk assessments for a wide variety of regulated and non-regulated sites. These assessments include:

• An analysis of the environmental behavior of hazardous substances.
• A determination of the potential human exposure levels.
• A quantitative assessment of individual and population-wide health risks associated with predicted or actual exposure levels.

Our professionals work closely with clients to provide scientifically defensible assessments. We also help clients make informed risk management decisions, regarding the scope of the investigation; the risk assessment efforts; and their remedial options.

Broad Knowledge

MWH has strong experience in preparing human health assessments under the guidance of RCRA, CERCLA and other regulatory authorities. In the United States, our experience includes both quantitative and qualitative screening and baseline assessments for clients in all 10 EPA Regions. This experience with various assessment approaches, however, extends far beyond those traditionally described in EPA and/or US state guidelines.

Clients can draw from a wide array of scientific knowledge within MWH. We offer expertise in many fields, including environmental epidemiology, environmental toxicology, environmental health sciences, industrial hygiene and risk modeling.

MWH services include:

• Providing quantified risk estimates to help clients understand liabilities
• Prioritizing risk sources to help client allocate resources most effectively
• Using demonstrated knowledge in risk assessment — in conjunction with regulatory issues — to achieve compliant and cost-effective outcomes
• Helping clients negotiate reasonable cleanup goals with regulatory agencies, and, if necessary, using our scientific expertise to challenge regulatory assumptions
• Leveraging state-of-the-art approaches to provide accurate estimates of risks, so clients can negotiate more cost-effective cleanup goals
• Evaluating Hazard Ranking System (HRS) scores, and, when necessary, rescoring NPL sites to develop scores that aren't conservatively inflated