A model standardized risk assessment protocol for use with hazardous waste sites

This paper presents a model standardized risk assessment protocol (SRAP) for use with hazardous waste sites. The proposed SRAP focuses on the degree and patterns of evidence that exist for a significant risk to human populations from exposure to a hazardous waste site. The SRAP was designed with at least four specific goals in mind: to organize the available scientific data on a specific site and to highlight important gaps in this knowledge; to facilitate rational, cost-effective decision making about the best distribution of available manpower and resources; to systematically classify sites roughly according to the level of risk they pose to surrounding human populations; and to promote an improved level of communication among professionals working in the area of waste site management and between decision makers and the local population.