Guidance document
Development is going on all around us in Western Australia. Yet developments such as land use developments, industrial activities or clean up of old waste sites can put communities at risk and possibly cause ill health.
Health Risk Assessment is the process the Department of Health in Western Australia requires of developers to use to demonstrate that their proposals will not adversely affect the health of the surrounding community. It requires proponents to consider each aspect of their proposed development, to determine whether the proposal has any risk associated with it, and to consider what could be done to ensure that the community is protected from the risks.
A health risk assessment is “the process of estimating the potential impact of a chemical, biological, physical or social agent on a specified human population system under a specific set of conditions and for a certain time-frame" (enHealth, 2004).
The Health Risk Assessment in Western Australia (PDF 1.10MB) document outlines the requirements for the health risk assessment process.
The Department of Health recommends that proponents follow the methodology as presented in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aging enHealth Council 2002 document Environmental Health Risk Assessment: Guidelines for assessing human health risks from environmental hazards. These guidelines cover many of the technical and scientific aspects of the health risk assessment process.
For further information please contact the Environmental Health Directorate on (08) 9388 4999.
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