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The Florida Department of Health works to protect, promote, and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county, and community efforts.

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Hazardous Waste Sites Health Risk Assessment Reports

Hazardous Waste Site Health Risk Assessment Program

Florida DOH Does Not:

  • Make or enforce laws and rules concerning hazardous waste sites.
  • Provide medical service for people exposed to hazardous waste sites
  • Provide cleanup or relocation
  • Take samples, except for some private well testing.

The Health Risk Assessment Team for Hazard Waste Sites at the Florida Department of Health conducts public health assessments, consultations, and community updates at such sites. Chemicals at these sites can harm human health. Therefore, the team studies:

  • What kind of chemicals exist at a site?
  • How much of each chemical is at a site?
  • What are the possible exposure ways people could get in contact with chemicals?
  • How often and how long are people possibly exposed to the chemicals?

The answers to these questions help decide how much of a risk a site poses to people and the community who live nearby.

The team writes two kinds of reports:

(1) Public health assessment (PHA)
A PHA looks at a site as a whole. It may include a review of soil, water, and/or air test results. A PHA looks at health effects that might occur from contact with site chemicals.
(2) Health consultation (HC)
An HC may answer a single question about a site and/or it may review one set of data.

These reports only relate to human health. They:

  • Do not check the health of any one person
  • Are not an in-depth health study of a group of people
  • Do not set standards
  • Do not set cleanup levels for a site

From 1992 to 1998, the Department also reviewed prior health assessments to identify areas for more work. The Department called these special reports Site Review and Updates (SRUs).

View a risk health assessment report for a hazardous waste site.

Learn more about the basics of the human health risk assessment process.

*Note: This page contains materials in the Portable Document Format (PDF). The free Adobe Reader may be required to view these files.