Expert Services
Helping everyone make sense of science.
Finding better ways for the public and organizations to partner together to build healthy communities.
Assess Exposure
When faced with an active, historical, or potential release of chemicals, a thorough understanding of regulatory compliance and the risk assessment process is crucial to providing strategies and cost-effective solutions. Our team understands the value of toxicology in the field of human health risk assessment and applies the fundamentals of toxicology, epidemiology, data solutions, and exposure science to a broad range of challenging problems. The CTEH team has “boots on the ground” experience collecting, analyzing, and interpreting environmental data across numerous industries providing streamlined and specific expertise to meet your needs.
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Community Exposures and Health Risks
From source to outcome, it is critical to promptly and accurately assess the extent of impact and risk associated with contamination following a potential chemical exposure. CTEH toxicologists and public health experts evaluate the multiple exposure pathways that are possible at a site and the complex parameters necessary to evaluate any risk from ingestion of contaminated soil, water, or food, inhalation of vapor and particulates, and consideration of absorption of chemicals through skin contact.
In addition to assessing any potential immediate impacts, our public health expert team also works quickly to identify sensitive populations in the impacted area using various items in our environmental justice toolkit. We can advise on short and long term implications of impact to any at-risk or disproportionately-impacted populations in the area.
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Environmental Monitoring
Our teams are experienced with every aspect of managing and conducting complex environmental assessment and monitoring programs. Collecting quality environmental data in accordance with agency-approved procedures is an important step in assessing the potential impact of released constituents or additional stressors to the community.
CTEH implements efficient, custom strategies quickly to help protect public health and ecological resources, provide quality science-based data and recommendations, and support effective cleanup efforts. Our customized handheld applications allows us to rapidly collect environmental field data and geospatial information that are essential for informed decision-making during a response as well as documenting field conditions throughout the response phase.
Navigate Complex Regulations
CTEH’s subject matter experts are well-known and trusted advisors at all levels of the regulatory landscape. Our teams are frequently tapped by industry oversight groups and US EPA regional representatives to advise on complex human health and environmental issues. Few firms in the world have as much in-field, multi-hazard, emergent response science experience as CTEH.
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Regulatory Compliance & Auditing
The full CTEH team has a high level of training and engagement to assess and manage regulatory compliance across any point of a project. From generating state and NIMS-compatible contingency and response plans during the planning phase, to multi-chemical air and water sampling plans considering state and federal legally-actionable levels during a release, to long term environmental impact assessments and public health studies years after an event – CTEH is the right team at every stage.
Because of our decades of experience working within the nuances of regulatory policy, our experts understand complex regulations and can help design and complete gap analyses for your plans and programs. We’ll help identify and explain potential challenges and improvements. CTEH compliance experts are well-versed in state and federal regulations including the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs). Our data analysts and health scientists can also compile and review your plans and data to help during audit review and defense.
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Public Policy Consulting
The policy landscape for complex issues like human health, chemical safety, and climate risk is changing quickly at the state and federal levels. CTEH experts with long track records of work with those agencies or with the hazards in question are invaluable partners in responding to and understanding the unseen impacts of regulation.
Our public health scientists and toxicologists are qualified to perform systematic literature reviews and assessments of studies upon which these policies are based. We can help represent and explain unforeseen outsized impacts to industry, infrastructure, or communities during public hearings. Similarly, our trusted experts can help your stakeholders understand the goals of emergent policies and consult on process adjustments to keep your business flexible.
Understand Community Health
Epidemiology serves as the cornerstone of public health, and CTEH excels in capturing, reviewing, and visualizing comprehensive data on health determinants and the impacts on sensitive populations, especially concerning public health claims related to specific industrial sources. Our experts have extensive qualifications and experience in assessing the health and sociodemographic profiles of populations, critically reviewing existing literature, designing meticulous studies, and conducting both qualitative and quantitative epidemiological research. Our focus on public health and intensive knowledge of public health tools and data allow us to help our clients best understand the potential impacts and health history and characteristics of their communities.
Data-driven decisions informed by solid science are critical. Designing and completing fenceline and community monitoring studies is a crucial step in gathering the necessary data to allow stakeholders to make science-backed decisions while simultaneously protecting public health and the environment. Understanding the overall challenges, limitations, and strengths of various technologies allow our experts to provide streamlined solutions to meet each client’s needs.
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Environmental Justice and Health Impact Assessments
CTEH specializes in identifying key objectives, data needs, and unique community profiles. We meticulously analyze primary environmental justice (EJ) concerns and the factors contributing to environmental hazards and heightened susceptibility. Our approach includes integrating EJ concerns into the planning of human health risk assessments and recommending enhancements to analytical methodologies. By considering the unique needs and profiles of various communities, we help our clients to better plan for resiliency and community protection.
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Cumulative Impact Analysis
Understanding the complexity of community exposure requires identifying both chemical stressors present in different environmental media and non-chemical stressors such as social determinants of health and socioeconomic status. CTEH recognizes the multifaceted nature of each community, including their exposure to unique stressors, disproportionate impacts, and the ongoing challenges posed by climate change. Our cumulative impact analyses provide a holistic view of community health risks, enabling targeted and effective intervention planning.
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Community Health Surveys
To accurately characterize community demographics and understand health determinants, CTEH designs and conducts population-based assessments tailored to the specific situation of each community. Poorly designed public health studies and community surveys threaten the integrity of population science data and can cause funding and improvement projects to be diverted from communities with the highest need.
We develop comprehensive datasets that can be analyzed and mapped to specific geographic and socioeconomic areas, providing valuable insights into community needs. These surveys enable us to deliver targeted public health recommendations and support community health initiatives effectively.
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Community Engagement and Risk Communication
We excel in effectively communicating scientific findings and health risks, equipping clients and connecting their communities with the essential information needed to make informed decisions about health, safety, and environmental risks. Our approach helps ensure that all stakeholders are well-informed and actively participate in decision-making processes, leading to more resilient and informed communities.
By leveraging our expertise in these areas, CTEH can assist clients in navigating complex public health and environmental challenges, reducing risk in both the industrial and public health spheres.
Support to Counsel
CTEH provides support to our clients at every stage of the process. Our team combines advanced academic training with practical application of the science – their boots-on-the-ground experience offers invaluable insights that other firms’ experts simply cannot match.
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Areas of Particular Expertise
- Expert opinion consulting and crisis communication regarding environmental chemical releases
- Serving as consulting or testifying experts in Toxic Tort litigation
- Legal nurse consulting and medical chronology production
- Product safety & compliance assessment
- Assessment of community, workplace, and environmental exposures
- Regulatory and public policy consulting
- Public health consulting
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