Exposure

{
  "id": "MLC-T-ENV-010465",
  "term": "Exposure",
  "field": "Environment",
  "definition": "1. Contact with a substance by swallowing, breathing, or touching the skin or eyes. Exposure may be short-term [acute exposure], of intermediate duration, or long-term [chronic exposure].\n\n2. Radiation or pollutants that come into contact with the body and present a potential health threat. The most common routes of exposure are through the skin, mouth, or by inhalation.\n\n3. The contact or co-occurrence of a stressor with a receptor.\n\n4. Contact made between a chemical, physical, or biological agent and the outer boundary of an organism. Exposure is quantified as the amount of an agent available at the exchange boundaries of the organism (e.g., skin, lungs, gut).\n\n5. Contact with a chemical or physical agent.\n\n6. The amount of contact an individual has with asbestos fibers. Evaluation of exposure should take into account the factors of location of the asbestos containing building material (ACBM), potential duration of exposure, and potential exposure populations within the school. For example, intact boiler insulation in a boiler room accessed by maintenance or custodial personnel once per week would likely be given a relatively low exposure rating (i.e., 1).\n\n7. The act, process, or result of allowing light to reach photosensitive material.\n\n8. Human contact with environmental contaminants or concentrations of contaminants in media.\n\n9. Coming into contact with a substance through inhalation, ingestion, or direct contact with the skin; may be acute or chronic.\n\n10. How a biological system (i.e., ecosystem), plant, or animal comes in contact with a chemical.\n\n11. Degree of hazard threatening a risk because of physical conditions (external or internal). In the insurance field, this term may have several meanings: 1) possibility of loss; 2) possibility of a loss to a risk caused by its surroundings; or 3) extent of risk (e.g., one car insured for one year).\n\n12. The amount of radiation or pollutant present in a given environment that represents a potential health threat to living organisms.\n\n13. The co-occurrence or contact of a stressor with the biological resource demonstrating impairment.\n\n14. Contact between an agent and a target.\n\n15. The initial contact of the body with a substance.\n\n16. The amount of radiation that reaches a person or object. Exposure occurs when a person is near a radiation source. Receiving an x-ray is an example of exposure. Though the radiation penetrates the body, it does not remain on the skin or in the body.\n\n17. An event in which an organism comes in contact with a chemical or biological agent.\n\n18. Contact made between a chemical, physical, or biological agent and the outer boundary of an organism.\n\n19. The term exposure is used in a number of different ways in risk assessment. It is generally understood to mean relevant contact between a person and a hazard. Factors that may affect an exposure include the concentration of the hazardous agent, the duration of contact, the target tissues or organs, and the route of exposure. Exposure can refer to populations or individuals.\n\n20. Contact with or proximity to a hazard, taking into account duration and intensity.\n\n21. Contact made between an agent and the outer boundary of an organism. Exposure is quantified as the concentration of the agent in the medium in contact integrated over the time duration of that contact. Exposure concentration is the concentration of the agent in its transport or carrier medium (e.g., air) at the point of contact. See A Review of the Reference Dose and Reference Concentration Processes(EPA, 2002) and Guidelines for Exposure Assessment (EPA, 1992).\n\n22. The presence of radiation or pollution in the environment that represents a potential health threat to living organisms.\n\n23. Human contact with environmental media including air, water, soil, and food through inhalation, ingestion, or direct contact with the skin or eye. Human exposure to environmental contaminants can be measured in the ambient environment (air, water, land), at the point of human contact, or after contaminants have entered the human body through entry portals such as the eyes, skin, stomach, intestines, or lungs.\n\n24. Swallowing, breathing, or touching a substance through the skin or eyes. Exposure duration may be immediate, short term(14 days or less), intermediate, or long term (more than 1 year).\n\n25. Exposure or exposed means that an employee is subjected to a chemical, physical, biological, or ergonomic hazard in the course of employment through any route of entry (inhalation, ingestion, skin contact or absorption, etc.), and includes past exposure and potential exposure (e.g., possible or accidental). It does not include situations where the employer can demonstrate that the hazard is not used, handled, stored, generated, or present in the workplace in any manner different from typical non-occupational situations.\n\n26. Human contact with environmental contaminants in media including air, water, soil, and food.",
  "abbreviation": "First Exposure",
  "subject": "Health and safety",
  "references": [
    "The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR); ATSDR 2004; Superfund Glossary; Glossary of Asbestos-related Terms and Acronyms",
    "Environmental Issues Terms & Acronyms; Pesticides Glossary; EPA 2005e",
    "Waste and Cleanup Risk Assessment Glossary; EPA 1998a",
    "Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Glossary; Community-Based Air Pollution Projects Glossary; EPA 2003",
    "Drinking Water Technical & Legal Terms",
    "Asbestos Hazard and Emergency Response Act Terms",
    "Records Glossary",
    "Childrens Health Protection Glossary",
    "Superfund for Students and Teachers Glossary",
    "Ecological Risk Assessment Glossary of Terms",
    "Environmental Insurance and Risk Management Tools Glossary",
    "Terms of Environment; EPA 2005b",
    "CADDIS Glossary",
    "Exposure Factors Handbook: Glossary",
    "Indoor Air Quality Glossary",
    "RadTown Glossary",
    "I-BEAM Glossary of Terms",
    "EPA 2004",
    "Thesaurus of Terms Used in Microbial Risk Assessment",
    "Safety, Health, and Environmental Management System Terms and Definitions",
    "Health Effects Notebook Glossary",
    "based on US EPA Terms of the Environment",
    "Report on the Environment (ROE) Glossary",
    "National Biomonitoring Program Glossary",
    "EPA Emergency Responder Health and Safety Manual - Chapter 6: Injury, Illness, and Exposure Reporting",
    "America's Children and the Environment Terms"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/environment/exposure/"
}