Step 1.1 Identifying Exposure Categories

Tools for Identifying Exposure Pathways

Health assessors use a number of tools to help identify exposure pathways. Four of the main tools used by health assessors are described in the following paragraphs. (A link in each paragraph launches a pdf file containing the tool described. The size of the pdf file for the exposure pathways tables tool is fourteen kilobytes, while the size of the files for the other tools is seven kilobytes.)

Site visits and site visit tool
A site visit includes an inspection of the area under investigation with an emphasis on determining whether all five elements of an exposure pathway are present. The site visit tool provides a way for the health assessor to record observations in an organized manner.

Site demographic tool
A public health assessor gathers information on the characteristics of the population that is potentially exposed to a source of contamination. A demographic survey tool is useful in ensuring that all essential information is included and that observations are recorded in an organized method.

Exposure pathways tables
The exposure pathways table shows one way of presenting exposure information in a public health assessment document.

Exposure pathways checklists
The exposure pathways checklists provide a list of possible pathway elements to consider when identifying exposure pathways.