Conducting health risk assessment studies at or near a contaminated site requires characterizing the site’s environment. This step is a prerequisite for estimating the population’s exposure to contaminants at the site. Feedback from the Interregional Epidemiology Units (CIRE) and the Department of Environmental Health (DSE) of the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS) reveals that difficulties regarding transparency, consistency, and interpretation of available data are regularly encountered during this stage. Indeed, environmental measurements are rarely conducted with the specific aim of estimating exposure, yet the results are nonetheless used in this context. A discussion has been initiated within a DSE-Cire working group to improve the consideration of the "population exposure" issue when conducting environmental assessments in health studies related to contaminated sites and soils. The working group’s deliberations led to the development of a tool to assist in interpreting the results of soil measurement campaigns, in the form of an interpretation grid. This evaluation grid is intended to complement the various existing methodological guides on soil characterization (Medd tools, BRGM and Ineris guides). Its objective is to help public health professionals make a critical and reasoned assessment of the environmental assessments conducted in order to determine whether the results can be used to identify and evaluate exposures. This checklist applies only to soil studies. It may be supplemented in the future by similar tools for other environmental media (water, air, vegetation) involved in health impact studies. This checklist is not intended to replace the expertise and dialogue with the study contractors but to help structure a response when reviewing a case. The steps addressed by this checklist are the use of available information, the selection of a sampling strategy, the selection of sampling and analytical methods, quality control and quality assurance of results, and finally the presentation and interpretation of results. (R.A.)