Demystifying the environmental health site assessment

At the request of the Multinational Corps-Iraq (MNC-I), the US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine deployed a Special Augmentation Response Team-Preventive Medicine to support MNC-I and preventive medicine assets in Iraq in order to complete environmental health site assessments (EHSAs) for major forward operating bases. Prior to the mission, there was a lot of concern from the field on what constituted an EHSA and how to conduct one. The EHSA is a living document that describes environmental and health conditions on a forward operating base. It identifies, describes, and documents potentially complete and completed exposure pathways. The 90-day mission involved conducting 2 iterations of EHSA training to preventive medicine detachments and brigade combat team Environmental Science and Engineering Officers, conducting site assessments of major forward operating bases in Iraq, and completing over 25 EHSA reports. This article provides an overview of the EHSA process, the site assessment, and the final report in order to demystify the EHSA process and its usefulness to preventive medicine personnel.