2.4 Chemical Risks and Protection Areas
23
Fig. 2.2 Impact pathway from an emission to resulting damage
Table 2.1 Definition of key terms related to the impact pathway from the release of material or
energy from a chemical process or product
Term
Definition
Emission
Release into the environment of non-environmental substances, energy, or
organisms that act as chemical, physical, or biological stressors
Transmission
Propagation, dissipation, and conversion of an agent after emission to the
environment
Immission
An agent after emission and transmission that has reached the location of
the exposed protected good
Exposure
Type, magnitude, and duration of an emission at the location of a protected
good
Damage
Impairment of inherent qualities of a protected good (e.g., humans,
environment, property, etc.)
The area of health protection concerns adverse impacts on workers, consumers,
and ecosystems. Risks within this area are often characterized by longer exposure
periods and consequently by chronic effects. The effects are usually local but less
time-specific, and the range of possible impacts is broad and may involve exposure
of workers during production, side effects of consumer products, or accumulation
of chemicals in environmental compartments and food chains. This protection area
is investigated by means of product risk assessment, which is introduced in Chap. 6.
The area of environmental protection primarily concerns the cumulative impact
of several smaller, incremental impacts distributed across space and time. These
are associated with low and often unknown exposure thresholds as well as long
exposure periods. Examples can include adverse effects related to product-specific
wastewater emissions, exhaust air, generated waste, etc. from point sources as well
as from diffuse sources. Such effects can be considered by life cycle assessment
(LCA), which is introduced in Chap. 5. Across all three of these protection areas,
the technique of risk-benefit dialogue is applied to ensure that risks of a chemical
product or process are communicated to, and accepted by, society. This is introduced
in Chap. 9.
23
Fig. 2.2 Impact pathway from an emission to resulting damage
Table 2.1 Definition of key terms related to the impact pathway from the release of material or
energy from a chemical process or product
Term
Definition
Emission
Release into the environment of non-environmental substances, energy, or
organisms that act as chemical, physical, or biological stressors
Transmission
Propagation, dissipation, and conversion of an agent after emission to the
environment
Immission
An agent after emission and transmission that has reached the location of
the exposed protected good
Exposure
Type, magnitude, and duration of an emission at the location of a protected
good
Damage
Impairment of inherent qualities of a protected good (e.g., humans,
environment, property, etc.)
The area of health protection concerns adverse impacts on workers, consumers,
and ecosystems. Risks within this area are often characterized by longer exposure
periods and consequently by chronic effects. The effects are usually local but less
time-specific, and the range of possible impacts is broad and may involve exposure
of workers during production, side effects of consumer products, or accumulation
of chemicals in environmental compartments and food chains. This protection area
is investigated by means of product risk assessment, which is introduced in Chap. 6.
The area of environmental protection primarily concerns the cumulative impact
of several smaller, incremental impacts distributed across space and time. These
are associated with low and often unknown exposure thresholds as well as long
exposure periods. Examples can include adverse effects related to product-specific
wastewater emissions, exhaust air, generated waste, etc. from point sources as well
as from diffuse sources. Such effects can be considered by life cycle assessment
(LCA), which is introduced in Chap. 5. Across all three of these protection areas,
the technique of risk-benefit dialogue is applied to ensure that risks of a chemical
product or process are communicated to, and accepted by, society. This is introduced
in Chap. 9.