In response to public health crises in recent years, the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS) and some of its local branches, the Interregional Epidemiology Units (Cire), have conducted categorization and prioritization studies to identify new criteria for identifying sites with potential public health risks. Six studies are briefly described, along with insights regarding their feasibility and utility within the national health and environment framework. These studies focused on lead-contaminated sites, natural outcrops of asbestos-bearing minerals, and all sites at the departmental, regional, or national level. The studies demonstrate interesting methodological developments (accounting for the potentially exposed population, exposure potential, etc.) and results that exhibit a certain degree of robustness. However, the feasibility of these categorizations or prioritizations remains problematic (complex methodological work, data collection, etc.). It is therefore not surprising that the management of contaminated sites and soils most often remains a site-by-site approach rather than a territorial approach based on the population’s exposure potential. (R.A.)