The Environmental Health Risk Assessment Division (EHRAD) focuses on assessing exposures and health outcomes associated with chemical and biological hazards found or introduced into the environment. We support forward deployed operations, garrison installations, and Army and DOD doctrine and policy writers by providing health risk assessment information, products, and services. Mission areas include Occupational and Environmental Health (OEH) Surveillance; Force Health Protection; Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) defense; installation environmental management; historical exposure investigations; and chemical and material risk management.
What is Environmental Health Risk Assessment?
In summary, environmental health risk assessment is a multi-disciplinary, science/policy methodology for measuring, understanding, analyzing, and managing health hazards found in the environment. Health risk assessment involves exposure measurement technologies, exposure assessments, exposure guideline development, health outcome assessments, and health risk characterization. Our military-unique health risk assessments are extended into assessing the impact of health hazards on military operations and informing the development and/or design of exposure control measures.
Environmental health risk assessments (EHRAs) support many types of decisions facing Commanders and other military risk-managers. Refer to the Environmental Health Risk Assessment topic page to learn more.
Division Organizational Structure
The EHRAD is a multidisciplinary division providing unique and specialized products and services for wide range of Army and DoD organizations and offices. The EHRAD is internally organized to compliment the evolving military public health mission for deployment, sustainment, and emerging health risk challenges. The Division is comprised of three branches as shown below.
- Population Exposure Assessment Branch -- Support health readiness and deployment health missions by providing exposure and health risk assessments and consultations for Force Health Protection personnel. Branch products and services include --
- Force Health Protection support for Army Component Commands and Combatant Commands (COCOMs).
- Exposure assessment information and expertise to deployed preventive medicine personnel.
- Produce Periodic Occupational and Environmental Monitoring Summaries (POEMS).
- Exposure assessment consultations for medical providers.
- Hazard assessment of unique deployment environmental health issues.
- Train-the-trainer support to preventive medicine detachment validation teams.
- Environmental Assessment Branch -- Support environmental health and health readiness for the Army by providing health risk assessments and consultations for cleanup programs, demilitarization programs, training range sustainment, and installation response to environmental hazards, all with an emphasis on human and ecological health risk assessments as required by Army Regulation 200-1 (Environmental Protection and Enhancement). Branch products and services include --
- Environmental health risk assessment consultations that include advice and support for installation management.
- Environmental health risk assessments and rapid response evaluations for installation sites worldwide.
- Environmental health risk assessments in support of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permitting for combustion sources that include incinerators and open burning/open detonation of munitions items.
- Army Cleanup Program (IRP, FUDS, and BRAC) consultations to include --
- Reviewing technical documents, attending public meetings, providing telephone consults and conducting site visits.
- Reviewing remedial investigation and feasibility study (RI/FS) reports, clean-up plans, and decision documents.
- Policy impact reviews and reviews of new or changing regulations.
- Recommendations for development of regulations and policies.
- Support to the DOD Chemical and Material Risk Management Program's (CMRMP) Emerging Contaminants (EC) initiatives.
- Response to historical exposure inquiries.
- Risk Assessment Capabilities Branch -- Support health readiness, force health protection, OEH risk management, and capability development for the Army and the Joint force by providing specialized health risk assessment (HRA) capabilities and advancing HRA concepts, methods, tools, and guidance that address current and emerging chemical and biological health hazards (OEH and CBRN) found in garrison and field operating environments. Branch products and services include --
- Health risk assessment guidance and method development.
- Chemical and biological exposure guideline development.
- Risk assessment tool development and risk reference data management.
- CBRN defense – chemical/biological risk assessment methods, guidance, and support.
- Training, doctrine, capability, and policy development support.
- Performance of special health risk assessment studies.
