Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 91-0190-2491: International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), Jersey City, New Jersey

Details

• Personal Author:
  Deitchman, Scott D. ; Kinnes, Gregory M.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the International Association of Fire Fighters, an investigation was begun into the health and safety practices used during the handling of a fire at an illegal dumpsite by the Jersey City Fire Department (SIC-9224), Jersey City, New Jersey. The investigation centered around the incident command system, safety management, the arrangements for medical service, and decontamination. High winds and several directional wind shifts hampered operations at the fire scene. Some fire fighters did not wear their self-contained breathing apparatus or depleted their supply of air cylinders during the fire. Several fire fighters were treated at the scene for dizziness, mucosal irritation and elevated blood pressure. Abnormalities were noted on the field cardiac monitors for several of the firemen. A total of 171 fire fighters were transported to area hospitals and three were admitted. The fire department indicated that 68 fire fighters received incident related injuries. Findings indicated that exposure to methylene-chloride (75092) may have been responsible for some of the adverse health experiences reported. The authors conclude that it was not possible to determine a definitive environmental cause for the health effects experienced by fire fighters during the dumpsite fire. The authors recommend that changes be made in incident command and safety procedures.
• Subjects:
  Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Emergencies Firefighters Fires Hydrocarbons Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety
• Keywords:
  Cardiovascular-system-disorders Chlorinated-hydrocarbons Combustion-products Dump Fire Electrocardiogram Emergency-equipment Fire Fighters Firefighters Firemen Fire Protection Hazard-Unconfirmed Health Effects HETA-91-0190-2491 Incident Command System Methylene Chloride NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 2 Personal-protective-equipment Self-contained Breathing Apparatus Waste

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA9101902491
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New Jersey ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  45 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00225887
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB95-219788
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 91-0190-2491, 1995 Feb ; :1-46
• CAS Registry Number:
  Methylene chloride (CAS RN 75-09-2)
• Editor(s):
  Marlow, Kate L.
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  9224 - Fire protection - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a0c0645fa44f53f1157d5123d4e5cc0558ef795cfa5e31348ec8766f23847740fbef1bab3d2d96b96fb5d2621d839be41b08fe1d7308ee0175ccc79d30765052
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171290/cdc_171290_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.82 MB ]