The DPSEEA (Driving Forces - Pressures - State - Exposure - Effects - Actions) model is useful in designing a system of EH indicators within the decision-making context.

The driving forces component refers to the factors that motivate and push the environmental processes involved. These result in the generation of pressures on the environment. In response to the pressures, the state of the environment is often modified. Deterioration in the state of the environment, however, poses risks to human well-being only when there is interplay between people and the hazards in the environment.

Exposure is therefore rarely an automatic consequence of the existence of a hazard: it requires that people are present both at the place and at the time that the hazard occurs. Exposure to environmental hazards, in turn, leads to a wide spectrum of health effects, which may be acute or chronic. Some hazards may have a rapid effect following exposure, whereas others may require a long time to produce an adverse health effect. The concept of exposure is best developed in relation to pollutants in environmental media. The amount of the pollutant absorbed, i.e. the "dose", depends on the duration and intensity of the exposure.

In face of the environmental problems and consequent health effects, society attempts to adopt and implement a range of actions. These may take many forms and be targeted at different points within the environment–health continuum. Actions may be taken to reduce or control the hazards concerned, such as by limiting emissions of pollutants or introducing flood control measures. The most effective long-term actions, however, are those that are preventive in approach, aimed at eliminating or reducing the forces that drive the system.