Occupational Exposures During the World Trade Center Disaster Response

Details

• Personal Author:
  Snyder, Erin M. ; Wallingford, Kenneth M.
• Description:
  Upon the request of the New York City Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) monitored occupational exposures among emergency response workers during the rescue and recovery activities at the World Trade Center disaster site from September 18 through 4 October 2001. During this period, over 1,200 bulk and air samples were collected to estimate or characterize workers' occupational exposures. Samples were collected and analyzed for asbestos, carbon monoxide (CO), chlorodifluoromethane (Freon 22), diesel exhaust, hydrogen sulfide, inorganic acids, mercury and other metals, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, respirable particulate not otherwise regulated (PNOR), respirable crystalline silica, total PNOR, and volatile organic compounds. Exposures to most of these potential hazards did not exceed NIOSH Recommended Exposure Limits or Occupational Safety and Health Administration Permissible Exposure Limits. However, one torch cutter was overexposed to cadmium and another worker (and possibly three others) was overexposed to CO. The elevated cadmium and CO levels were the result of workers using oxy-acetylene cutting torches and gasoline-powered cutting saws. Recommendations were made to ensure adequate ventilation and worker understanding when using these tools and, where possible, to substitute rechargeable, battery-powered cutting saws for gasoline-powered ones. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Asbestos Cadmium Dust Emergencies Emergency Responders Environmental Monitoring Hydrocarbons Inorganic Chemicals Mercury Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety September 11 Terrorist Attacks Silicon Dioxide Vehicle Emissions

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• Keywords:
  Air-samples Asbestos-dust Author Keywords: Asbestos Cadmium Cadmium-compounds Cadmium-dust Carbon Monoxide Diesel-exhausts Emergency-responders Emergency-response Mercury-compounds Occupational-exposure Occupational-hazards Occupational Exposure Polynuclear-aromatic-hydrocarbons Silica-dusts World Trade Center

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• ISSN:
  0748-2337
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• 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:
  247-253
• Volume:
  17
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20023950
• Citation:
  Toxicol Ind Health 2001 Jun; 17(5-10):247-253
• Contact Point Address:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 4676 Columbia Parkway (R-11), Cincinnati, Ohio 45226, USA
• Email:
  kwallingford@cdc.gov
• CAS Registry Number:
  Cadmium (CAS RN 7440-43-9) ; Carbon monoxide (CAS RN 630-08-0) ; Chlorodifluoromethane (CAS RN 75-45-6) ; Hydrogen sulfide (CAS RN 7783-06-4) ; Mercury (CAS RN 7439-97-6) ; Quartz (SiO2) (CAS RN 14808-60-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Toxicology and Industrial Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:86b56ccfb46dd5bf2bfc70e29634a9146b35e79779aea0dcbd894f131d111d931c8a5f826b78308cc15f806607901d3f39940c685c47745ba8785570760a02cd
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195993/cdc_195993_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 135.67 KB ]