The health risk assessment method involves the assessment of occupational exposure to pollutants. Restricted to inhalation exposure, several models can be used in order to either characterize or estimate exposure levels. The objectives are to study and compare the main existing models, and eventually to develop new ones, in order to help validating them and also to define their usefulness in addition to traditional individual monitoring. In a first chapter we present the existing models and describe their applications. A qualitative method is developed then compared to both other similar methods and empirical models in order to compare their performances in characterizing or predicting exposure to solvents in laboratories (chapter 2). From this work, we suggest the initial use of qualitative methods to define priority exposure scenarios, then the use of empirical models to predict inhalation exposure. Linear regression statistical models are studied in the field of waste composting, confirming their ability to identify specific determinants of exposure (chapter 3). Physical models are tested in order to reproduce observed time-varying exposure profiles, and then used to estimate the distribution of exposure and health risks (chapter 4). Such models are useful to describe the spatial and temporal variability of exposure, and help understanding the mechanisms of exposure. Strengths and weaknesses of all tested models are then compared and suggestions of use are made as well as work perspectives (chapter 5). Keywords: exposure, risks, models, determinants, predictions, variability, uncertainty.
