Journal of School of Public Health and

Background and Aim: Environmental health impact assessment of industrial estates will help greatly in better planning for sustainable development and reducing disease risk in a community. The objective of this study was to assess the positive and negative effects of establishing an industrial estate in Jovein, Sabzevar, Iran in 2006-7 and suggest managerial strategies to reduce undesirable environmental health impacts.

Methods and Materials: A modified Leopold Matrix and Scaling checklist method was used. The existing environmental situation was investigated and then environmental impact assessment alternatives were determined, bearing in mind the amounts and kinds of predicted pollutants in the construction and operational phases . The assessment was made considering the immediate, direct, and indirect impacts in the short and long terms. It was attempted to use a wide range of values of different factors (-5, +5) in order to estimate the impact of all activities on the environmental status.

Results: The results of the study are presented with two alternatives, i.e., "No" (conducting the project with no concern for environmental issues), and "Yes" (performance of the project with application of methods to reduce the environmental harmful impacts), when establishing the industrial estate, in the construction and operation phases. The impact assessment with the "No" alternative scored -791, meaning that execution of the project had to be rejected. However, after reducing the harmful impacts the score rose to +252, indicating that the project would be accepted.

Conclusion: The method of reducing harmful environmental impacts along with environmental management programs introduced are accepted in this study. It is recommended that the Ministry of Health and Medical Education and The Iranian Environmental Protection Agency collaborate closely in the area of environmental health impact assessment of industries and industrial estates.