Environmental Health and Safety

Flashcards covering key concepts in environmental health, including definitions, risk assessment, and environmental impacts.

What are some occupational exposures that result in morbidity and mortality?

Lung diseases caused by hazardous dusts, hearing loss from loud noises, carpal tunnel syndrome, and back pain from excessive lifting.

What percentage of cancer deaths in men have been estimated to be due to occupational exposures?

As much as 5% of cancer deaths in men have been estimated to be due to occupational exposures.

What are the three categories of the physical environment?

Unaltered, altered, and built environment.

Give examples of unhealthy aspects of the 'unaltered environment'.

Radon, sunlight, mosquitoes, and unclean water sources.

Give examples of chemicals, radiation, and biological products that impact the altered environment.

Pesticides, benzene, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

What are some things that impact the built environment?

The transportation system, where we work and play, and how we heat buildings.

What are some things public health efforts are addressing in the built environment?

Increased air pollution and reduced exercise resulting from dependence on the automobile.

List the multiple routes through which we are exposed to the physical environment.

Skin, respiratory tract, alimentary or digestive tract, and genital-urinary tract.

What are the approaches to address complex interactions between humans and the physical environment?

Risk assessment, public health assessment, ecological assessment, and interaction analysis.

Besides the inherent danger, what does risk assessment aim to take into account?

Route, timing, and quantity.

What are the 4 steps of the risk assessment process?

Hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization.

What data does a public health assessment include beyond a risk assessment?

Actual exposure in a community, risks to large numbers of individuals, and risks to the population as a whole.

What are some lead-exposure industries?

Mining, smelting, metal repair, or foundry work

What are ways to reduce lead exposure?

occupational controls, phaseout of lead in gasoline , and removal of lead paint from older homes

What does ecological risk assessment examine?

Impact of contamination or pollution on plants and animals and the ecosystems in which they exist.