Purpose
After completing Competency #6, you will be able to identify contaminants that require further assessment by analyzing measured environmental concentrations, exposure pathways, and health-based comparison values used for screening.
Courses and Training Videos
Modules
- Online Public Health Assessment Training (PHAT) - In this series of online and interactive modules, you will learn the fundamentals of the public health assessment (PHA) process. For this competency, please review PHAT Module 6: Data Screening Analysis to learn about the ATSDR's screening process to identify those contaminants requiring further evaluation in the PHA process. For instance, you will learn how to select and use ATSDR-recommended comparison values and other health-based screening levels.
Webinars
- Introduction to PHAST: CV Screen, Water/Soil/Food Calculators, Data Import Webinar (May 2017 v1.0) - In this webinar, you will explore ATSDR's Public Health Assessment System (PHAST). PHAST is a web-based application designed to assess environmental data and conduct complex dose calculations. You will also discover how to use PHAST's Comparison Value (CV) module to input site contaminant concentrations. After entering the data, PHAST will screen these concentrations against ATSDR-generated CVs to determine which contaminants require further evaluation in the PHA process.
- You can find the webinar on the PHAST resource page under "PHAST Training". To gain access to the PHAST Resource page, send a request to phast@cdc.gov.
- Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)
- Guidance for Calculating Benzo(a)pyrene Equivalents for Cancer Evaluations of PAH. In this webinar, you will learn about the steps to calculate B(a)P equivalents. This calculation is used to screen chemicals and identify potential contaminants of concern.
Guidance
Public Health Assessment Guidance Manual (PHAGM)
PHAGM is ATSDR's comprehensive guidance on the PHA process. It describes methods and resources that you can use to evaluate environmental exposures associated with environmental contamination. For this competency, please review the screening analysis subsection within PHAGM’s section 6.
- Screening Analysis Overview - This section in PHAGM explains how you can use ATSDR CVs and non-ATSDR screening levels to screen sampling data and identify potential contaminants of concern requiring further evaluation. You can easily screen contaminant data by using the CV module in PHAST.
Vapor Intrusion
- Guidance for Evaluating Vapor Intrusion Pathways - This document provides you with ATSDR's guidance for evaluating the public health implications of vapor intrusion.
- Home Alterations and Vapor Intrusion-Fact Sheet Template - Use this fact sheet to explain to home and building's owners the effect that renovation activities can have on vapor intrusion and indoor air quality. The fact sheet also emphasizes the importance of monitoring radon levels during the renovation process.
- Vapor Intrusion Conceptual Site Model Figure - This vapor intrusion infographic uses a residential home to show how volatile contaminants move through outdoor air, groundwater, and soil gas to enter indoor air.
Chemical-specific Guidance
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
Guidance for Calculating Benzo(a)pyrene Equivalents for Cancer Evaluations of PAHs - Use this guidance to learn ATSDR's approach for calculating benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) equivalents from samples with a mixture of carcinogenic PAHs.
Particulate Matter
Guidance for Inhalation Exposures to Particulate Matter (PM) - Use this PM guidance to learn the steps that you should take when evaluating PM data during the data screening phase of the PHA process.
Dioxin and Dioxin-like Compounds
Toxic Equivalents Guidance for Dioxin and Dioxin-like Compounds - Use this guidance to learn how to screen samples with dioxin and dioxin-like compound using toxic equivalents (TEQs).
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
Guidance for PFAS in Fish & Other Aquatic Organisms - Use this guidance to learn how to conduct a health assessment in areas with potential PFAS exposure via consumption of fish or other aquatic organisms that are locally harvested and consumed.
Tools
Public Health Assessment Site Tool (PHAST)
- PHAST is a web-based application to assist you, as a health assessor, in evaluating environmental data and performing complex dose calculations.
- Use the PHAST's CV screening module to screen contaminants against ATSDR's recommended CVs for water, soil/sediment, air, and soil vapor intrusion. If recommended CVs are exceeded, select the contaminants for further evaluation in the PHA process.
- To request access to PHAST, send an e-mail to PHAST@CDC.gov
- Vapor Intrusion Data Quality Evaluation Worksheet - This worksheet provides you with a list that you can use as a tool to track the data quality issues important to your vapor intrusion evaluations.
- Geospatial Research Analysis and Services Program (GRASP) - GRASP supports ATSDR by providing geospatial analyses and visualizations. This helps environmental health professionals like you, and communities, to better understand environmental, sociodemographic, and other issues related to chemical exposures across the United States.
- If you are an ATSDR health assessor, contact GRASP directly to request services. If you are a health assessor in the APPLETREE program, please reach out to your ATSDR Technical Project Officer who will enter a request for GRASP services on your behalf. To explore collaborating with GRASP, contact placeandhealth@cdc.gov.