WELCOME

The Society of Brownfield Risk Assessment (SoBRA) has been established to support the growing number of professionals working in land contamination risk assessment. It is a  learned society for individuals, with membership drawn from the private, public, voluntary and academic sectors. Its goals are  to improve technical knowledge in risk-based decision-making related to land contamination applications and to enhance the professional status and profile of practitioners.

SoBRA was established in December 2009 and since that time has held three annual conferences and two workshops, one in June 2010 on the assessment of risks to human health from PAH contamination in soil and one in June 2011 on the assessment of risks to human health from lead contamination in soil.  Presentations are available to SoBRA members and can be accessed on the Resources page.  Proceedings reports for the PAHs and lead workshops are available to members. 

SoBRA also has a number of sub groups looking at various aspects related to risk assessment.  

Membership to SoBRA is open to any individual with an interest in the assessment of risks from land contamination.  Join SoBRA here.

Our December conference was again held jointly with the Royal Society of Chemistry Toxicology Group at the RSC, Burlington House, London on the 21st December 2011. The programme included:

• BGS project on "normal" soil concentrations as defined in the Revised Part 2A
• Toxicological aspects of SPOSH Tools and guidance for risk assessment on radioactive contaminated land
• Impacts to surface water from land contamination
• Guidance and tools for assessment of risks from radioactively contaminated ground
• Risk assessment of dioxins and furans

SoBRA members can login and  download the presentations here.

Summer 2012 Workshop

This year's summer workshop will be on Risk Assessment of Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Groundwater.  The one day workshop will be held on 28th June at Armada House in Bristol.  As with previous summer workshops the event will consist of a morning of presentations from expert speakers (including Robert Ettinger from the US) followed by an afternoon of discussion groups. Themes to be discussed include sampling and analysis, fate and transport modelling, compliance points and assessment criteria, environmental forensics and vapour risks from VOCs in groundwater.  For further information or to book the event click here.

SoBRA Lead Workshop Report

SoBRA held a workshop on assessing risks to human health from lead in soils in June 2011. The workshop included discussion groups on the 4 key topics, namely: toxicology; sources and background concentrations; exposure assessment; and bioaccessibility.  Proceedings and presentation slides from the workshop are available free to members.  

SoBRA members can login and download the report here.