Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Mission

To prevent exposure and adverse human health effects and diminished quality of life associated with exposure to hazardous substances from waste sites, unplanned releases, and other sources of pollution present in the environment.

Evaluation Program

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) was created as a federal agency by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), more commonly known as Superfund. ATSDR was created to implement the health‑related sections of CERCLA and other laws that protect the public from hazardous waste and environmental spills of hazardous substances. The ATSDR evaluation program is coordinated with the agency wide strategic planning process to implement requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). ATSDR’s strategic goals and its annual performance plan are the result of an interactive process that reflects a long‑term commitment by Agency staff to develop stronger relationships among external clients and stakeholders, to assess products and services using relevant data, and to improve our processes and systems for more efficient accomplishment of ATSDR’s mission.

In-Progress Evaluations

Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES)

The Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) Evaluation Report, generated annually, discusses the evaluations conducted for the surveillance of hazardous events and system reporting.  The evaluation is based on the ability to measure the sensitivity and reliability of the system.  Sensitivity is measured by the ability of the system to receive notification of events involving hazardous substances meeting the HSEES case definition, evaluated by comparison to other national data collection systems (i.e., DOT, EPA).  Reliability is measured by the ability of the system to receive uniformly recorded data from the 13 state health department partners.  To address the reliability of HSEES, each quarter the ATSDR mails a report describing a case study involving the release or threatened release of a hazardous substance or substances to participating state health departments.  State health department partners review the case study and completes a hard copy data collection form which is returned to the ATSDR. The ATSDR then compares the responses on these forms to each other and to the ATSDR’s preferred responses.
PIC ID: 6854.2; EXPECTED COMPLETION: FY 2005; CONTACT: Maureen Orr, 404-639-6391; PERFORMER: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Atlanta, GA