Environmental Hazards & Risk Assessment Flashcards
7 cards from real Environmental Compliance Inspector practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Environmental Hazards & Risk Assessment flashcards as text
An environmental compliance inspector is reviewing a facility's Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) plan. Which regulatory program governs SPCC requirements?
Answer: Clean Water Act Section 311
SPCC regulations are promulgated under Clean Water Act Section 311 to prevent oil discharges to navigable waters and adjoining shorelines.
In a risk assessment, 'background concentration' refers to what?
Answer: The natural or pre-existing level of a substance in environmental media before anthropogenic contamination
Background concentration represents the naturally occurring or pre-existing levels of substances in soil or water not attributable to the site's activities.
Under EPA's Risk-Based Corrective Action (RBCA) framework, what is a 'Tier 1' evaluation?
Answer: A conservative screening using generic default assumptions and lookup tables
Tier 1 RBCA uses conservative generic assumptions and lookup tables to screen sites; if a site passes Tier 1, no further action may be needed.
Which of the following chemicals is classified as a 'persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic' (PBT) pollutant by EPA?
Answer: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
PCBs are classic PBT pollutants—they persist in the environment, accumulate in food chains, and are toxic to humans and wildlife.
What does 'cancer slope factor' (CSF) represent in carcinogenic risk assessment?
Answer: The upper-bound estimate of increased cancer risk per unit dose of a carcinogen
The cancer slope factor is an upper-bound, plausible estimate of the probability of a response per unit intake of a chemical over a lifetime.
An inspector notes that a chemical plant's wastewater discharge has a pH of 3.2. Under the Clean Water Act NPDES program, this is most directly a concern because:
Answer: pH outside the range of 6-9 SU typically violates effluent limitations for corrosivity
Most NPDES permits require effluent pH to be within the range of 6.0 to 9.0 standard units; a pH of 3.2 represents an acute violation.
What is the purpose of a 'sensitivity analysis' in a quantitative risk assessment?
Answer: Determining which input variables most significantly influence the risk estimate
Sensitivity analysis identifies which assumptions or input parameters (e.g., exposure frequency, body weight) have the greatest influence on the final risk estimate.