Health Canada's Contaminated Sites Division of the Safe Environments Programme has a mandate to provide expert guidance, training and advice in effective public involvement (PI) to federal custodial departments in support of the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan. A team of public involvement/outreach specialists from across the country recently developed a tool to assist site managers in identifying where and when to involve the public in their site assessment process.

Risk assessment

Risk assessment is a tool used to estimate whether or not a chemical in air, water, soil or sediment might pose a risk to human health, and if so, under what circumstances. Four key steps to the risk assessment process are outlined in the table.

Ultimately, the risk assessment process helps government agencies and scientists identify potential health impacts and determine realistic goals to reduce exposure to chemicals so that there are no significant health threats to the public.

Some risk assessment processes include public involvement, which should include open dialogue and a transparent process that allows affected communities and other stakeholders to participate in and influence the decision?making process at contaminated sites. Specifically, stakeholders can help identify what the problems are, how serious they are and how they might be corrected or mitigated.

The Connection

Risk assessment, according to an American Industrial Hygiene Association report on strategies for effective risk communication, is a science?based process for determining the potential risk, where risk is defined as:

Risk = Exposure x Toxicity

However, stakeholders often have a different perception of risk, which is influenced by what they know and how they have been told about it. This perception can be summarized by the equation:

Risk = Hazard x Outrage

Stakeholder outrage is often generated because of a failure to inform, poor communication of potential health risks, and lack of effective public engagement and involvement.

Meaningful, timely and effective public involvement will lead to better departmental decision?making and more effective management of contaminated sites under the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan. Consequently, involving stakeholders who have potential concerns about the health and safety of their families and communities in the risk assessment process will help to build better stakeholder relationships and reduce public outrage.

Meaningful public involvement can also help to:

* effectively resolve problems;

* make informed decisions;

* reach a common goal;

* identify and implement risk management strategies

acceptable to those most at risk;

* build trust; and,

* avoid conflicts and delays.

Public involvement should not be employed only after the risk assessment phase. Presenting a risk assessment as if it were a fait accompli fails to recognize the value that stakeholders can bring to hazard identification or perception. Public involvement is most effective if conducted throughout the entire process, from site identification/assessment, through clean up and any follow?up and post?remediation monitoring phase.

Public Involvement should be considered in the following circumstances:

* Communities are located near the contaminated site

* Foods currently being utilized in the area could be impacted

* There is public interest in the project

* There is a perceived threat to public health, whether real or not

* Those directly affected by the project expect to be involved

* There is a policy, program, or regulatory requirement

* There are emerging issues related to the project development (i.e., emerging legislation, policy or

legal actions).

Making it work

The site identification/assessment, risk assessment and risk management/clean up phases offer many different opportunities to involve stakeholders. Each site will present unique circumstances and the level of public involvement must be tailored to needs and expectations of each community and/or stakeholder group that may be affected by the contaminated site. There is no one cookie-cutter approach to make it work. However, if there are any consistent components of a successful public involvement process, they are:

* Do it early * Do it openly * Do it often

Brenda Pichette is a senior public outreach specialist for Health Canada in Ottawa. For further information, e-mail Brenda_Pichette@hc.sc.gc.ca.