Alternatives Assessment
The "Five Chemicals Study" is about alternatives assessment applied to selected uses of lead, formaldehyde, DEHP, Perc and Chrome VI.
Alternatives or options assessment is required as part of TUR Planning. The planning process focuses on industrial activities to promote safer and cleaner production and to enhance economic viability. It compiles data for current toxic materials use in production processes, and in this way areas of inefficiency are discovered. Planners then identify options or alternatives, and must then consider and assess their hazard, performance and cost. Firms then decide whether to make changes in production.
Alternatives Assessment Methodology
In selecting safer chemicals or technologies, the Institute is working with other centers at the University to create a useful framework, and is evaluating tools and methods to offer guidance on their use. There are two ways to approach such tools:
- Hazard data display methods: in these methods, data on a range of chemical hazards are arrayed and users are expected to develop their own rules for decision making among alternatives. Several methods within this category go further in that they aggregate data in order to create a risk index for comparing substances.
- Screening methods: in these approaches, chemicals are evaluated for a range of hazards. Within each tool, hazards are prioritized, and recommendations made to eliminate use if chemicals are deemed to be high risk. In this way, decision rules are built into the screening tool for the user. These methods may or may not consider the potential for exposure.
TURI Methods and Policy Report Number 23 provides guidance on a wide range of existing tools used globally for alternatives assessments. Click on "Alternatives Assessment Reports" on the right hand bar to access this valuable report.
This page updated Tuesday April 08 2008