Action - A response done by a governmental organization such as an evacuation.

Acute - Short-term, sudden, unexpected, uncontrolled, serious events requiring immediate action.

Acute Exposure - Contact with chemical or other substance that last for a short period of time (no longer than 14 days).

Adverse Health Effect - The result of exposure to substances (such as radiation) that cause any harm to a person's health.

Applied Science - The ability to apply scientific knowledge to practical problems.

Cancer - A group of 100 or more diseases that occurs when cells in the body become abnormal and grow, or increase out of control creating abnormal or tumor cells.

Chronic Exposure - Contact with chemical or other substance that lasting more than 14 days.

Cooperative Agreement - An award similar to a grant, but in which the sponsor's staff may be actively involved in proposal preparation as well as research activities once the award has been made.

Disease Cluster - A greater than normal grouping, real or perceived, of health-related events that are closely grouped together in time and space that are reported to a health agency.

Environment - Our air, our water, our food and our surroundings.

Environmental Health Surveillance System - Ongoing surveillance of the environmental factors, including physical, chemical, biological, and social factors and diseases affecting the citizens of this state, with a focus on disease trends and research. (LA House Bill 1321)

Environmental or Genetic Factor - Factors, such as behaviors (smoking, drinking from a polluted lake or eating toxic fish), and physical location (neighborhood, worksite), that are not passed from ones parents, to the child, that may decrease or increase the chance of a person developing cancer.

Epidemiology - The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations.

Exposure - Coming into contact with a chemical or other substance through breathing (inhalation), eating or drinking (ingestion) or through skin contact (dermal).

Exposure Assessment - An identification and evaluation of the human population exposed to a toxic agent, describing its composition and size, as well as the type, magnitude, frequency, route, and duration of exposure.

First Responders - Individuals such as police officers, sheriff deputies, firefighters, and paramedics that respond to the scene of an emergency situation.

Geocoding - A GIS operation for converting street addresses into spatial data that can be displayed as features on a map.

GIS - Geographic Information System - A computer system that captures, stores, looks at, manages, displays and updates data that is linked to a location.

Hazard - Source of possible harm from past, present or future exposure.

Hazardous Substance Releases - Discharge of any hazardous substance such as, chemical (except petroleum products), biological, radiological, or medical material that may reasonable be anticipated to cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations or malformations.

Human Health Outcomes - Changes in the health of an individual, or a group of people or a population that is wholly or partially attributable to a health intervention or a series of interventions.

Human Health Risk Assessment - The evaluation of scientific information on the hazardous properties of environmental agents (hazard characterization), the dose-response relationship (dose-response assessment), and the extent of human exposure to those agents (exposure assessment). The product of the risk assessment is a statement regarding the probability that populations or individuals so exposed will be harmed and to what degree (risk characterization).

In-Place Sheltering - Protecting yourself where you are (home, workplace) and remaining there until given further instructions. This includes closing all windows, doors and vents as well as turning off all cooling, heating or ventilating systems.

Incidence - The number of new disease cases or health outcomes during a specific time period.

Industrialized Areas - Locations where the process of creating or changing raw or unfinished materials into another form or product occurs.

Interventions - Programs that are designed to decrease high risk behaviors by informing people of behaviors that are less likely to put them at risk for disease or other adverse health outcome. (Example: School Violence and Drug Interventions).

Latency Period - The period of time from when a person is exposed to a hazard to when a person experiences the adverse effects of that hazard.

Locational Databases - Databases of locations that can be mapped out using GIS computer programs.

Mercury (Hg) - A slivery chemical that is normally found on the earth. It can cause brain, kidney and other health problems in humans. Humans come in contact with mercury by eating contaminated fish, breathing in mercury gas, mercury contact with skin, taking part in customs that use mercury and release of mercury from dental work and medical treatments.

Morbidity - The frequency of a disease within a particular portion of the population.

Mortality - The number of deaths from a specific disease or health condition, during a specific time period.

Ozone (O₃) - A colorless gas that is found in the air that may cause breathing problems in humans.

Particulate Matter (PM) - Small masses of liquids or solids that are found in the air that may cause breathing problems in humans.

Petroleum Only - Events in which only a petroleum product (i.e. gasoline, diesel fuel, etc.) is released.

Releases of Hazardous Substances - Discharge of any hazardous substance such as, chemical (except petroleum products), biological, radiological, or medical material that may reasonable be anticipated to cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations or malformations.

Responders - Individuals such as police officers, sheriff deputies, firefighters, and paramedics that respond to the scene of an emergency situation.

Risk Factors - Factors that may increase a person's chance of developing a disease or health outcome (Example: Obesity and high blood pressure are risk factors for heart disease).

Spatial Analysis - Process of modeling, examining, and interpreting data that incorporates information about the location of the data itself.

Surveillance - The ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data essential to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice, as well as the timely dissemination of these data to those who need to know. Public health surveillance is the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data for purposes of improving health and safety. It can also mean tracking.

Tracking - A word used to describe how we collect, look at and report data. It can also mean surveillance.

Threatened - A potential cause of an incident that may result in harm to a system or organization.

Toxicology - The study of harmful interactions between chemical, physical, or biological agents and biological systems.