Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-85-150-1767: Warwick Fire Department; Warwick, Rhode Island

Details

• Personal Author:
  Durand, Jeanne M. ; House, Louise A. ; Keenlyside, Richard A. ; Kent, George P.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In answer to a request from the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), an evaluation was made of health complaints noted by fire fighters exposed to plastic products and pesticides during two separate fires attended to by the Warwick Fire Department (SIC- 9224), located in Warwick, Rhode Island. Questionnaires were administered to 43 persons who were only present at the plastics fire and 46 who were only present at the pesticide fire and to 13 present at both fires. These included 14 volunteer fire fighters and one policeman
  
  of the 132 exposed individuals, 13 did not participate in the evaluation. Clinical evaluations were not undertaken because of the time elapsed since the fires. The men who fought the plastic products fire and the pesticide fire apparently experienced acute symptoms related to smoke and chemical inhalation during the fires, including headache, cough, sore throat, wheezing, shortness of breath, rash, dizziness, nausea, blurred vision, and numbness. No long term health effects resulting from exposures to fire products were detected. The authors conclude that fire fighters at these two fires experienced acute irritant symptoms from smoke and chemical inhalation. The authors recommend use of protective clothing, use of protective equipment, prefire planning, implementation of medical surveillance for all fire fighters, and the proper cleanup of protective clothing and equipment after fires.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Dust Firefighters Fires Insecticides Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Plastics Safety
• Keywords:
  Agricultural-chemicals Fire Fighters Firemen Fire Protection Hazard-Unconfirmed HETA-85-150-1767 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 1 Personal-protective-equipment Pesticides Plastics-industry Smoke Inhalation

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA851501767
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Rhode Island ; OSHA Region 1
• 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:
  35 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00169492
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB87-204996
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 85-150-1767, 1987 Jan ; :1-32
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• 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:fa569527aa966589a557563c1db7f9019b55d74d757e36ff37d6633ad1e74b10aad9f59b2b202727d4255122cb8b1b7a4c2ccde3f4eaaa59c70b761b9fbf8f5f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172114/cdc_172114_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.28 MB ]