Environmental safety evaluates risks to human health in natural and artificial settings. Human health may be helped if environmental professionals study the effects of various elements in each environment. What constitutes environmental safety varies according to the context, but there are some common concerns in reducing human health problems. Five key aspects of environmental safety are indoor air quality, outdoor air quality, water quality, soil quality and food safety.
- Each type of environmental factor studied in environmental safety involves the relationship of the human to the environment. According to the EPA, "Most Americans spend up to 90% of their time indoors and many spend most of their working hours in an office environment." Environmental safety is concerned with measuring the levels of pollutants in indoor environments. Humans should be able to breathe freely without inhaling harmful levels of indoor air pollutants.
- Outdoor air quality is effected by many factors. Consider the case of pollutants released into the atmosphere from automobile, other transportation and industrial processes. Agencies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state and local environmental offices take measurements of outdoor air. The causes of harmful levels of pollutants in the air are studied. On the other side of the coin, industrial organizations are heavily regulated for the types of chemicals they may release into the Earth's atmosphere.
- Water quality is another primary concern for people in the United States and throughout the world. We are exposed to potential contaminants in our drinking water, including tap water and bottled water. The EPA notes that certain people are at risk for getting sick from contaminants in drinking water. For "people undergoing chemotherapy or living with HIV/AIDS, transplant patients, children and infants, the frail elderly, and pregnant women and their fetuses," the concern is that drinking water may present a risk for infection. Environmental safety is concerned with monitoring drinking water for safety in the general population and in special subgroups.
- Soil quality relates closely to the environmental safety concepts of water quality and food safety. Soil quality reflects on its ability to sustain life within the local ecosystem (including crop cultivation) and to not cause harm to the plants and animals in the region. Environmental safety concerns pollutants to the soil, including pesticides and fertilizers that endanger soil safety and water safety.
- Scientists consider the safety of food because humans are vulnerable to food contamination. As noted above, food can be contaminated from the soil. Food can also be contaminated directly by pesticides or indirectly by animals that eat contaminated food or feed. EPA calls a pesticide that remains in or on food a residue, including the residues in animals slaughtered for human consumption. The Food Quality Protection Act (1995) helps the federal government enforce national standards for food residues.
评论