Application of COMEAP dose-response coefficients within a regulatory health impact assessment methodology

Abstract

It is recognized that exposure to airborne pollutants can have a negative effect on human health. The Environment Agency in England and Wales has a statutory responsibility under the Environment Act 1990 to regulate emissions to air from large industrial processes with regard to the requirements of the National Air Quality Strategy (NAQS). A technique was developed to apply pollutant dose–response relationships published by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) in a regulatory framework, incorporating long‐term sulphur dioxide concentration values obtained using an air dispersion model. Modelled long‐term average sulphur dioxide concentration values for 102 electoral wards comprising an exposed area surrounding a hypothetical industrial stack emission in southern England were incorporated into a human health impact assessment using COMEAP dose–response relationships and annual baseline health data. Additional numbers of deaths brought forward and respiratory hospital admissions per annum resulting from the hypothetical sulphur dioxide emission were estimated. A second calculation using monthly baseline health data and monthly averaged concentration values was carried out to assess the sensitivity of the estimate of health impact to seasonal variability of baseline health and modelled average concentration datasets. The annual incremental impact varied by 1.49 per cent between the ‘annual’ and ‘sum of 12 months’ analyses, suggesting that annual averaged modelled concentration values and annual baseline health data are sufficient for use in regulatory health impact assessments for large industrial processes using the COMEAP approach.