Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund - Volume I Human Health Evaluation Manual - Part A - Interim Final

Sep 17, 2026

Interim final guidance for Superfund human health risk assessments, presented as Volume I of the two-volume Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund (RAGS). This manual, Part A, revises the earlier Superfund Public Health Evaluation Manual (SPHEM, October 1986) by updating procedures, policies, exposure estimation equations and variable values, and toxicity data source hierarchies. It strengthens links between human health evaluation, environmental evaluation, and RI/FS, and provides targeted guidance for risk assessors, reviewers, remedial project managers, and risk managers, including expanded risk characterization and uncertainty descriptions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages291

Reading Time12 h 13 min

AccessFree to download

About the Revision

What it is

Who it's for

What's new

What you will find

EPA/540/1-89/002 December 1989 Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund Volume I Human Health Evaluation Manual (Part A) Interim Final Office of Emergency and Remedial Response U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Washington, D.C. 20450 Page ii NOTICE The policies and procedures set forth here are intended solely as guidance to EPA and other government employees and contractors. This guidance does not constitute rulemaking by the Agency, and cannot be relied on to create a substantive or procedural right enforceable by any party in litigation with the United States. EPA may take action that is at variance with the policies and procedures in this manual and may change them at any time without public notice. This interim final guidance is based on policies in the proposed revisions to the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), which were published on December 21, 1988 (53 Federal Register 51394) . The final NCP may adopt policies different than those in this manual and should, when promulgated, be considered the authoritative source. A final version of this manual will be published after the revised NCP is promulgated. Following the date of its publication, this manual is intended to be used as guidance for all human health risk assessments conducted as part of Superfund remedial investigations and feasibility studies. Issuance of this manual does not invalidate human health risk assessments completed before (or in progress at) the publication date and based on previously released Agency guidance. Comment [A1]: The latest revisions to the NCP were finalized in 1994. An overview of the final NCP and a link to the full text are available at: [http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/lawsregs/ncp](http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/lawsregs/ncp)[ ](http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/lawsregs/ncp)[over.htm](over.htm) This document represents an annotated version of the Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund (RAGS) Part A. Since the original publication of this guidance in 1988, EPA has issued a number of guidance documents, directives and other policy documents that update, supplement, supersede or otherwise affect RAGSPartA, or contain new information about one or more topics that are substantially addressed in RAGSPartA. There may be additional supplemental guidance available on EPA's Superfund risk assessment website (see [http://www.epa.gov/swerrims/riskassessment/risk_superfund.html](http://www.epa.gov/swerrims/riskassessment/risk_superfund.html)) The underlying text of RAGSPartA remains unchanged; any typographical errors or missing text reflects the PDF original. Annotations have been added to this document as electronic `sticky notes. ' To view the information contained in a sticky note, simply place your cursor over it or click it and the text will expand. To close the note, press the escape key or click on the `X' in the upper righthand corner of the note header. In addition, the word `link' appears in parentheses near each sticky note. This text is a hyperlink that users can click to open the relevant document that serves as the source of the information provided in the note. All sections of RAGSPartA that have at least one annotation are marked in the Table of Contents with a blue arrow and highlighted in yellow. Click on the highlighted text in the Table of Contents to jump to the annotated section of the guidance. Annotations added: April 2010 Comment [A2]: The latest revisions to the NCP were finalized in 1994. An overview of the final NCP and a link to the full text are available at: [http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/lawsregs/ncp](http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/lawsregs/ncp)[ ](http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/lawsregs/ncp)[over.htm](over.htm) Page iii ABOUT THE REVISION WHAT IT IS EPA's Human Health Evaluation Manual is a revision of the Superfund Public Health Evaluation Manual (SPHEM; October 1986); it is Volume I of the two-volume set called Risk

FAQs

What is this EPA document and which part of RAGS does it include?

It is EPA’s Human Health Evaluation Manual. It is Volume I of the two-volume Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund, and the included material here is Part A.

What revision does this manual build on?

It builds upon the process established in the Superfund Public Health Evaluation Manual (SPHEM), dated October 1986.

Who will benefit from this revision?

Risk assessors, risk assessment reviewers, remedial project managers (RPMs), and risk managers involved in Superfund site cleanup activities.

Sep 17, 2026

Uploaded by 4398046744996