Title: Unit 6 Glossary
Course: BLD 159 Intro to Brownfield Remediation, Land Re-use, and Public Health > Section: BLD 159 Intro to Brownfield Remediation, Land Re-use, and Public Health

Unit 6 Glossary

Terms

Term | Definitions
Dose (for chemicals that are not radioactive) | The amount of a substance to which a person is exposed over some time period. Dose is a measurement of exposure. Dose is often expressed as milligram (amount) per kilogram (a measure of body weigh ...
Dose (for radioactive chemicals) | The radiation dose is the amount of energy from radiation that is actually absorbed by the body. This is not the same as measurements of the amount of radiation in the environment.
Dose-response relationship | The relationship between the amount of exposure [dose] to a substance and the resulting changes in body function or health (response).
Exposure | Contact with a substance by swallowing, breathing, or touching the skin or eyes. Exposure may be short-term [acute exposure], of intermediate duration, or long-term [chronic exposure].
Exposure assessment | The process of finding out how people come into contact with a hazardous substance, how often and for how long they are in contact with the substance, and how much of the substance they are in con ...
Hazard | A source of potential harm from past, current, or future exposures.
Risk | The expected frequency or probability of undesirable effects resulting from exposure to known or expected stressors.
Risk Assessment | Qualitative or quantitative evaluation of the risk posed to human health and/or the environment by the actual or potential presence or release of hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants.
Risk Characterization | A phase of risk assessment that integrates the results of the exposure and effects analyses to evaluate the likelihood of adverse effects associated with exposure to the stressor. The ecological s ...
Risk Communication | Risk communication, the exchange of information about health or environmental risks among risk assessors, risk managers, the local community, news media and interest groups, is the process of info ...
Risk-Based Decision-Making (RBDM) | The term RBDM refers to a process through which decisions are made about contaminated sites according to the risk each site poses to human health and the environment. RBDM is a mechanism for ident ...