An integrated approach to data management, risk assessment, and decision making

This paper describes a methodology called Risk Analysis, Communication, Evaluation, and Reduction (RACER) that converts environmental data directly to human health risk to enhance decision making and communication. The methodology was developed and implemented following the Cerro Grande fire in New Mexico that burned approximately 7,500 acres of Los Alamos National Laboratory in May 2000. The absence of a coordinated and comprehensive approach to managing and understanding environmental data was a major weakness in the responding agencies' ability to make and communicate decisions. RACER consists of three basic elements: managing information, converting information to knowledge, and communicating knowledge to decision makers and stakeholders. Data are maintained in a web-accessible database that accepts data as they are validated and uploaded. The user can select data for evaluation and convert them to knowledge using human health risk as a benchmark for ranking radionuclides, chemicals, pathways, or other criteria needed to make decisions. Knowledge about risk is communicated using graphic and tabular formats. The process is transparent, flexible, and rapid, which enhances credibility and trust among decision makers and stakeholders. The fundamental principles used in RACER can be applied anywhere radionuclides or chemicals are present in the environment.