THH - Risk Assessment (Lesson)
Risk Assessment
The risk assessment framework is often known as the Red Book Paradigm.
Risk assessment is a series of steps intended to identify and evaluate possible hazards to human health. The process includes where uncertainties are clearly considered and presented and involves a multidisciplinary effort. The risk assessment framework that is most commonly practiced follows the "Red Book" paradigm, which was circulated by the National Research Council in 1983.
Risk assessment is completed in a logical fashion that includes the following steps:
(1) Problem formulation
(2) Hazard identification
(3) Dose-response relationships
(4) Exposure assessment
(5) Risk characterization
Risk characterization is the culmination of the other steps. Here factors such as socioeconomic level, lifestyle, and potential exposure are considered. The Precautionary Principle may apply here, when a material poses potential threats to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should always be taken. Often public warnings and sometimes legislation may actually precede solid scientific evidence of risk in these cases. Yet the goal of risk assessment is to protect human health through increased knowledge and education, correct analysis of the possibility of exposure/illness, and the generation of the protective legislature.
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