Guidance & Tools
EPA has developed help for assessing and managing environmental risks, including guidance and tools which are the models and databases used in risk assessments. In some cases, these resources are broad enough to be relevant across all statutes that EPA administers while in other cases, they are more applicable to specific EPA programs.
Below are links to various risk assessment resources used by EPA scientists to assess risks to environmental hazards listed by:
- Guidance (this includes guidelines, guidance, handbooks, framework, and general "how-to" documents)
- Tools (this includes models and databases)
Guidance
Major EPA-Wide Risk Assessment Guidelines
- Carcinogen Risk Assessment | Supplemental Guidance for Early-Life Exposure to Carcinogens (2005)
- Chemical Mixtures Risk Assessment (1986)
- Developmental Toxicity Risk Assessment (1991)
- Ecological Risk Assessment (1998)
- Exposure Assessment (1992)
- Microbial Risk Assessment (2009)
- Mutagenicity Risk Assessment (1986)
- Neurotoxicity Risk Assessment (1998)
- Reproductive Toxicity Risk Assessment (1996)
Other EPA-wide policies, principles & risk assessment guidance
- Alpha2u-Globulin: Association with Chemically Induced Renal Toxicity and Neoplasia in the Male Rat (1991)
- A Review of the Reference Dose and Reference Concentration Processes (2002)
- Assessment of Thyroid Follicular Cell Tumors (1998)
- Assessment Factors for Evaluating the Quality of Scientific and Technical Information (2003)
- Benchmark Dose Technical Guidance (2012)
- Considerations for Developing a Dosimetry-Based Cumulative Risk Assessment Approach for Mixtures of Environmental Contaminants (2009)
- Cumulative Health Risk Assessment of Multiple Chemicals, Exposures, and Effects: A Resource Document (2008)
- Cumulative Risk Planning & Scoping Guidance (1997)
- EPA's Strategic Plan for Evaluating the Toxicity of Chemicals (2009)
- EPA Scientific Integrity Policies (2012)
- Exposure Factors Handbook | Highlights of the Exposure Factors Handbook (2011)
- Framework for Application of the Toxicity Equivalence Methodology for Polychlorinated Dioxins, Furans, and Biphenyls in Ecological Risk Assessment (2008)
- Framework for Cumulative Risk Assessment (2003)
- Framework for Developing Suspended and Bedded Sediment (SABS) Water Quality Criteria (2006)
- Framework for the Economic Assessment of Ecological Benefits (2002)
- Framework for Human Health Risk Assessment to Inform Decision Making (External Review Draft) (2012)
- Framework for Metals Risk Assessment (2007)
- Generic Ecological Assessment Endpoints (GEAE) for Ecological Risk Assessment (2003)
- Guidance Document on the Development, Evaluation and Application of Environmental Models (2009)
- Handbook for Non-Cancer Health Effects Valuation (2000)
- Interim Genomics Policy (2002)
- Interim Position on Environmental Endocrine Disruption (1997)
- Nanotechnology White Paper (2007)
- PCBs: Cancer Dose-Response Assessment (1996)
- Peer Review Handbook - 3rd Edition (2006)
- Probablistic Analysis in Risk Assessment (1997)
- Provisional Guidance for Quantitative Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (1993)
- Risk Characterization Handbook (2000)
- Scientific and Ethical Approaches for Observational Exposure Studies (2009)
- Stressor Identification Guidance Document (2000)
- Test Method Collections (2008)
Air and Radiation
- Estimating
Radiogenic Cancer Risks (PDF) (68 pp, 272KB) (1994)
Children's Health
- A Framework for Assessing Health Risk of Environmental Exposures to Children (2006)
- Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook (2008)
- Guidance on Selecting Age Groups for Monitoring and Assessing Childhood Exposures to Environmental Contaminants (2005)
- Guide to Considering Children's Health When Developing EPA Actions: Implementing Executive Order 13045 and EPA's Policy on Evaluating Health Risks to Children (PDF) (42 pp, 728KB) (2006)
- Policy on Evaluating Risk to Children (1995)
- Supplemental Guidance for Assessing Susceptibility from Early-Life Exposure to Carcinogens (2005)
Chemical Safety & Pollution Prevention
- Guidance on Cumulative Risk Assessment of Pesticides with a Common Mechanism of Action (PDF) (90 pp, 491KB) (2002)
- Harmonized Test Guidelines (various dates)
- Overview of the Ecological Risk Assessment Process in the Office of Pesticide Programs (PDF) (92 pp, 628k) (2004)
- Pesticides: Human Health Issues
- Pesticides: Ecological Risk Assessments
- Pesticide: Science Policy Issues & Guidance
Documents
- FQPA 10-Fold Safety Factor
- Dietary Exposure and Risk Assessment
- Threshold of Regulation
- Drinking Water Exposure
- Residential Exposure
- Aggregrate Exposure and Risk Assessment
- Cumulative Risk Assessment for Pesticides with a Common Mechanism of Toxicity
- Chollinesterase Inhibition End Point
- Use and Usage Information
- Process for Assessing Pesticide Risks to Endangered Species
- Standard Operating Procedures for Residential Pesticide Exposure Assessment (2012)
Solid Waste and Emergency Response
- Key OSWER Policy Guidance Documents (various dates)
Water
- Guidance for Assessing Chemical Contaminant Data for Use In Fish Advisories - Volume 2: Risk Assessment and Fish Consumption Limits - Third Edition (2000)
- Watershed Ecological Risk Assessment
Models
EPA-wide Risk Assessment Models
- BASINS 4.0 Climate Assessment Tool (CAT)
- Benchmark Dose System (BMDS)
- Causal Analysis/Diagnosis Decision Information System (CADDIS)
- CATREG Software for Categorical Regression Analysis
- Council for Regulatory Environmental Monitoring (CREM)
- EMSOFT: Exposure Model for Soil-Organic Fate and Transport
- Example Exposure Scenarios Tool
- Flowthru Data Reader (for the Turner Design Model)
- Metal Finishing Facility Risk Screening Tool (MFFRST)
- MPN Software Program
- OnSite -- Online tools for Site Assessment
- Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Models
- Tracer-Test Planning using the Efficient Hydrologic Tracer-Test Design (EHTD) Program
Air and Radiation
- Criteria Pollutant and Air Toxic Pollutant Risk Assessment
- Models 3/CMAQ - Air Quality Modeling System
- Radiation Risk Assessment /Risk Assessment
- Radiation Risk Assessment Software: CAP88 and CAP88 PC
- TRIM Model
Chemical Safety & Pollution Prevention
- Probabilistic Exposure and Risk Model for FUMigants (PERFUM)
- TRI Risk Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI)
- 2010 TRI (Toxic Release Inventory) National Analysis (Annual Report) (2012)
Human Health
- Dietary Exposure Potential Model
- Exposure Related Dose Estimating Model (ERDEM) for Assessing Human Exposure and Dose
- EPA Positive Matrix Factorization 1.1 (EPA PMF 1.1)
Regional Screening Levels for Chmical Contaminants at Superfund Sites (RSLs)
The "Regional Screening Levels for Chemical Contaminants at Superfund Sites" screening level/preliminary remediation goal website represents an update of the EPA Region 3 RBC Table, Region 6 HHMSSL Table and the Region 9 PRG Table. This website contains tables of risk-based screening levels, calculated using the latest toxicity values, default exposure assumptions and physical and chemical properties, and a calculator where default parameters can be changed to reflect site-specific risks. Users of the RSLs are encouraged to also review the RSLs' user's guide,the frequently asked questions and other supporting information as well as the screening levels in the tables. [Link: http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/risk/human/rb-concentration_table/index.htm]
Solid Waste and Emergency Response
- Center for Exposure Assessment Modeling (CEAM)
- Ecosystems Research Environmental Simulation and Modeling
- Ecotox Thresholds
- Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic Model for Lead in Children (IEUBK)
- Johnson and Ettinger (1991) Model for Subsurface Vapor Intrusion into Buildings
Databases & Assessments
EPA-wide Risk Assessment related Databases
- Biomarkers Database
- Consolidated Human Activity Database (CHAD)
- Contaminated Sediments Science Priorities
- Data Finder
- Database of Sources of Environmental Releases of Dioxin-like Compounds in the United States
- Distributed Structure-Searchable Toxicity (DSSTox) Database Network
- Ecotox
- Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP)
- Environmental Science (Databases and Software)
- Forum on Environmental Measurements (FEM)
- Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)
- Human Exposure Database System (HEDS)
- Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)
- Physiological Information Database (PID)
- Radionuclide Carcinogenicity Slope Factors
- Report on the Environment (ROE)
- Science Inventory (SI)
- Scientific and Ethical Approaches for Observational Exposure Studies Report
- Stochastic Human Exposure and Dose Simulation (SHEDS) model
- Wildlife Exposure Factors Handbook
- Window to Readily-Available Analytical Products (WRAP)
Air and Radiation
Children's Health
- Consolidated Human Activity Database (CHAD) & CHAD-Explorer
- Toxicity and Exposure Assessment for Children's Health (TEACH)