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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Wanda Lizak Welles, PhD and Rebecca E Wilburn, MPH. Bureau of Toxic Substance Assessment, New York State Department of Health, Flanigan Square, Room 330, 547 River Street, Troy, NY 12180
Chemicals that potentially can harm employees, responders, and the general public are released daily. Events may be accidental (e.g. equipment failure or human error) or deliberate (e.g. assault or terrorism). Releases can occur during transport, at a facility that manufactures or uses chemicals, or in a home. Since 1993, the New York State Department of Health, funded by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, has collected data about non-petroleum hazardous substance releases through the Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (NYHSEES). This presentation will summarize more than 4,000 non-petroleum events with more than 2,200 injured persons and will include case studies. Examples of actual events will be used to illustrate the types of hazardous substances released, including the ten chemicals most frequently associated with events and the ten chemicals most frequently associated with injuries. Data will include: causes/ contributing factors; injured populations (responders, employees, and the public) and their injuries; personal protective equipment worn by injured people; medical outcomes; evacuations (numbers of evacuees and duration); and decontamination activities. Discussion will focus on how the data can and have been used as a tool for emergency training, planning and prevention activities.
Learning Objectives: Participants will
Keywords: Environmental Health Hazards, Community Planning
Related Web page: www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/environ//HSEES/HSEES.htm
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.