Risk Assessment Framework

Risk assessments can be broken down into several component parts. The framework utilized in the POPs Toolkit has been adopted primarily from Health Canada’s PQRA (Preliminary Quantitative Risk Assessment) guidance for conducting human health risk assessments (Health Canada, 2004). The framework used is similar to those approaches used elsewhere in North America and in Europe.

The main components of a risk assessment are:

• Preliminary data collection
  
• Problem formulation
• Exposure and toxicity analysis
• Risk characterization

A PQRA will contain each of these components. More complicated risk assessments, site specific risk assessments (SSRAs), will contain additional exposure and toxicity analysis, and risk characterization.

 

References:

Health Canada PQRA - 2004 (external link)