Air Pollution Courses

Risk Assessment for Air Toxics / Health Effects of Air Pollution / MACT Standards

While with the NJDEP, I had the opportunity to teach the Risk Assessment for Air Toxics course that was developed by USEPA and I loved it!  Since then, I have had the good fortune to teach that course and two new courses alongside staff from NESCAUM and MARAMA, and staff from USEPA Regional Offices.  This is one of my favorite activities and I hope to have the chance to continue to teach courses like these.

The courses described below were designed to instruct professionals who work in Air Quality and other related state and federal programs.  The Risk Assessment for Air Toxics course could also be offered as a one-day course for community groups and others who would like to learn more about how risk assessments are done.

Risk Assessment for Air Toxics

This course was developed by USEPA to help State and Federal staff learn the essentials of Risk Assessment that are presented in the Air Toxics Risk Assessment (ATRA) Reference Library. This three-day course is challenging and active.  Click here for a sample agenda (PDF). The focus is on the way in which risk assessments are carried out when there is a particular concern for exposure to toxic air pollutants. This course is designed to fit the needs of a wide range of specialists – from engineers to modelers to toxicologists to managers.  In fact, students learn better when there is a mix of experience in the class.
 

At the end of the course students should be able to describe and understand the role of Risk Assessment within the Clean Air Act and also begin to understand how it is used in their own program. Students will also know the terms and concepts used in risk assessment and will be able to identify the basic steps and tools in evaluating risk.

Two case studies are used in the course: a facility risk assessment and a community assessment.  Working through these case studies, students learn to generate simple risk assessments and begin to recognize and access resources to aid in conducting/evaluating risk assessments.  They will also learn to communicate effectively with others about risk assessment.

I have taught this course to groups from NESCAUM, MARAMA, NJDEP and the State of Maine.

One of the strengths of this course is that it taps into the multiple ways in which adults learn, using techniques developed by Brains at Work.  I’ve learned a lot about teaching from my experience with this course, and have been able to carry some of these techniques over into the other courses that I teach.

Health Effects of Air Pollution

With all of the changes that USEPA has made to the NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards) in the last decade, there is a keen interest among staff in state air quality agencies to understand the health basis for the standards.  Along with staff at NESCAUM, I developed a 1.5 day course to introduce the basic principles that organize the way that we understand health effects. Click here for a sample agenda (PDF). In this course we begin with a quick overview of the respiratory system, explore toxicology, and then go into more depth using ozone and particulate matter as examples.  We wrap up by covering the health effects of air toxics and provide an introduction to risk assessment.

MACT Standards:  HON, MON and Polymers & Resins

In 2007, I was part of a team that developed an updated version of this course.  More information will be available here in the near future. Click here for a sample agenda (PDF).

 

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