Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-83-280-1530: Orange County Fire Department; Orlando, Florida

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lucas, Cheryl
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  A health hazard evaluation of firefighters of the Orange County Fire Department (SIC-9224), Orlando, Florida was conducted in August 1983. The survey was requested by the firefighter's union to evaluate potential health hazards to firefighters who responded to a fire involving burning pesticides at a nursery warehouse in May 1983. After the fire, six individuals, including four firemen, were treated at a local emergency room. Medical questionnaires were administered to 6 of 18 firefighters and 2 of 3 exposed civilians. Emergency room medical records of the firefighters were reviewed. Symptoms reported included skin and eye irritation, chest tightness, cough, shortness of breath, nausea, and numbness of the fingers and lips. The duration of the symptoms ranged from 1 day (eye irritation) to 3 months (cough). All symptoms had subsided by the time of the survey. Medical records noted symptoms similar to those reported on the questionnaires and diagnoses of smoke and chemical inhalation. No permanent effects were noted. The author concludes that firefighters who fought the nursery warehouse fire experienced symptoms related to chemical and smoke inhalation. Recommendations include cleaning and disposing of contaminated equipment and implementing a medical surveillance program. Firefighters should not enter burning structures unless properly protected with NIOSH approved self-contained breathing equipment.
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Firefighters Fires Hazardous Substances Insecticides Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety
• Keywords:
  Chemical Inhalation Fire-fighting Fire Protection Hazards-Confirmed HETA-83-280-1530 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 4 Pesticide Fire Pesticides-and-agricultural-chemicals Protective-equipment Rescue-workers Smoke Inhalation Toxic-vapors

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA832801530
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; OSHA Region 4
• 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:
  12 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00148156
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB85-234334
• 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 83-280-1530, 1984 Nov ; :1-10
• Editor(s):
  Harris, Stephanie M.
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1985
• 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-512:9585221e4dba1aec3347379a009709b7e55134e6ed65669c6862b7394967497647e8795d8d588ab5c2c8f41873b0f5e488f9975299fa3bc1ef9a8d1d330ca06f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172699/cdc_172699_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.05 MB ]