Home Environment and Safety Assessment Tool:
In general, my apartment complex maintains the standards of the building to a level that puts myself and my wife at low risk of environmental exposure. The building is maintained to code, and there is regular maintenance conducted on all the units, including mine. In addition, when there are surprise incidents that arise, such as mold, there is usually a quick response to resolve the issue on the part of the property manager. Therefore, my apartment building could be considered to be safe and manageable to live in.
However, the factors that I can control, such as food, pets and home products, increases the relative risk of environmental exposure I and my wife have. For instance, we like to purchase fish, which increases our exposure to mercury. Some of our food products, primarily anything that is not a meat or dairy product, is non-organic. This can increase our exposure to pesticides. Nonetheless, we do wash all vegetable and fruit products prior to consumption. Our pets can be considered a primary environmental exposure, especially since they live in such close proximity to us. However, they do have regular check-ups, are healthy, and are vaccinated against various diseases.
In general, my living space has a low risk of exposure to several environmental factors. This is primarily due to the maintenance of the living space, which is taken care of by the property manager. Nonetheless, our pets and personal habits can increase mine and my wife's relative risk of environmental exposure.
