Acute Illness and Injury from Swimming Pool Disinfectants and Other Chemicals – United States, 2002–2008

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Badakhsh, Roshan ; Beckman, John ; Calvert, Geoffrey M. ; Diebolt-Brown, Brienne ; Gergely, Rita M. ; Higgins, Sheila A. ; Hudson, Naomi L. ; Mehler, Louise ; Schwartz, Abby
• Description:
  Swimming pools require disinfectants and other chemicals to maintain water quality and prevent swimmers from acquiring infections. When these chemicals are stored or used improperly or when they are handled or applied by persons not using appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), illness or injury can result. To assess the frequency of illness and injury related to pool chemicals, CDC analyzed data for the period 2002-2008 from six states participating in the Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risk (SENSOR)-Pesticides surveillance program and from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). This report describes the results of that analysis, which identified 584 cases of illness or injury associated with pool chemicals in the six SENSOR-Pesticides states and indicated an estimated national total of 28,071 cases (based on 688 NEISS cases) during that period. For the 77 percent of state cases and 49 percent of NEISS cases that had sufficient information to determine factors contributing to illness or injury, the most common contributing factors included mixing incompatible products, spills and splashes of chemicals, lack of appropriate PPE use, and dust clouds or fumes generated by opening a chemical container. Adhering to existing CDC recommendations can prevent some of the reported illnesses and injuries, but additional measures (e.g., improving package design to limit the release of dust clouds and fumes when a container is opened, making containers child-proof, and making product labels easier to understand) might reduce them further. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Chemistry Chlorine Compounds Communicable Disease Control Communicable Diseases Disinfectants Engineering Hazardous Substances Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Poisoning Quality Control Safety Water Purification

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• Keywords:
  Chemical-cleaning Chemical-reactions Chlorine-compounds Containers Control-equipment Disease-control Disease-prevention Engineering-controls Equipment-design Hazardous-materials Infection-control Information-retrieval-systems Injury-prevention Materials-handling Materials-storage Personal-protective-equipment Poisons Quality-control Storage-containers Surveillance-programs Warning-signs Water-purification

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• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Publisher:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (U.S.)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• 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:
  5 pdf pages
• Volume:
  60
• Issue:
  39
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20039757
• Citation:
  MMWR 2011 Oct; 60(39):1343-1347
• Email:
  nhudson1@cdc.gov
• CAS Registry Number:
  Calcium hypochlorite (CAS RN 7778-54-3) ; Chlorine (CAS RN 7782-50-5) ; Cyanuric acid (CAS RN 108-80-5) ; Cyanuric chloride (CAS RN 108-77-0) ; Sodium hypochlorite (CAS RN 7681-52-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  Michigan State University
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:47f45210fb177d0dbc7c148a97eb18cfbca31e56b3cde0ec850f4c4ad43a1dc16461a955f7433699c83b884f61b083d2483c70550863730a79559c4836d46405
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/182984/cdc_182984_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 240.82 KB ]