Hazards for nearby residents and cleanup workers of waste sites

This study weighs the risks to workers of cleaning up Superfund sites again st the risks to residents if the sites were! not cleaned up. Risks are meas ured by the number of deaths and disabilities due to injuries and diseases, as well as by the costs of these deaths and disabilities, We Posit three m ethods to clean up the sites: one that is labor-intensive and two that are not. We posit 24 hypothetical sites, with varying numbers of residents and levels of cancer death and cancer disability rates. Depending on the cleanu p method, the number of residents, and the rates, we find that the risks to workers frequently outweigh the risks to residents. We conclude that risk to workers should be accounted for in Environmental Protection Agency judgm ents regarding which and how Superfund sites should be cleaned up.