The series of health-based screening levels (HSLs) workshops held in Australia throughout November 2011 can now be utilised as further training materials for industry via DVD.

Presented by Eric Friebel, Senior Engineer – Environmental Risk Assessment at GHD, these workshops were prompted following the development by CRC CARE of HSLs for petroleum hydrocarbons. The HSLs were created to address an identified need for consistent human health risk assessment of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination in Australian conditions. The HSLs represent the best collective view of the available science and application of Australian approaches on selection of health criteria and exposure parameters.

In Australia, the normal approach for triggering further investigation during contaminated land investigations is to determine whether the concentration of contaminants of concern in soil and/or groundwater exceed published health investigation levels (HILs) or ecological investigation levels (EILs). These levels may also form the basis for clean-up criteria. In the case of petroleum hydrocarbons, a number of HILs exist; however, these are limited and do not extend to a variety of soil types and aquifer situations, or to the assessment of volatile hydrocarbons.

The development of the HSLs was conducted through detailed consultation with the Australian health and environmental regulators, laboratories, research groups, oil industry and environmental consultants. The HSLs and the underlying methodology may now be used for health risk assessment purposes in the context of the wider site assessment framework for petroleum hydrocarbon contamination provided in the Assessment of Site Contamination NEPM as varied.

To support the uptake and appropriate application of the HSLs, this full-day workshop provided instructions and case study examples on how the HSLs should be applied in practice and details on the key limitations of their use. The workshop also guided attendees through the development of the HSLs and guidance documents, to provide a better understanding of their basis and insight into the decisions made during the consultation process.