Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Jordan A. Barab, MA, US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, 2175 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037, 202-261-7673, jordan.barab@csb.gov

On April 12, 2004, a chemical reactor overheated at the MFG Chemical manufacturing plant in Dalton Georgia, releasing toxic allyl alcohol vapor. The resulting cloud sent 154 people to a local hospital, including workers at the plant and emergency responders. The release also forced the evacuation of nearby residents. The incident was investigated by the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). The investigation revealed serious shortcomings in the emergency response to the incident by the city and country, as well as significant problems the state of Georgia's overall preparedness for chemical plant incidents, including shortcomings in reviews of emergency response plans and failure to ensure communication of hazards to local communities.

The incident itself, in addition to the flawed response, raise a number of issues. First, aside from the less hazardous nature of chemical that was released, many factors related to the release and the response are similar to factors that contributed to the 1984 Bhopal catastrophe. In addition, although there is increasing attention currently being paid to homeland security issues and response to chemical incidents, the CSB investigation revealed serious shortcomings in our nation's ability to respond to chemical releases, whether of an “accidental” or “intentional” origin.

There are important lessons to be learned for occupational safety and health professionals as well as local public health and emergency response officials.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Recognize the requirements for effective workplace and community emergency response and common shortcomings experienced on the state and local level
• Describe the federal, state and local requirements for effective emergency response to chemical incidents
• Identify legal, systemic and applied shortcomings in execution of emergency response planning and application
• Analyze shortcomings of the response and assess state and local requirements for effective emergency planning and response.

Keywords: Emergency, Occupational Injury and Death

Related Web page: www.csb.gov

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation