Responder Safety and Health

Details

• Personal Author:
  Burrer SL ; Delaney, Lisa J. ; Eisenberg, Judith S. ; Shugart J
• Description:
  An increasing number and variety of workers are being called upon to respond to disasters. In 2017 alone, 16 severe weather incidents in the United States, ranging from wildfires to hurricanes, caused more than $1 billion worth of damage. Disasters are unpredictable and can be human-induced (such as a chemical spill or radiation incident) or naturally occurring (such as a flood or an emerging infectious disease outbreak)-any of which, if severe enough, can become a public health crisis. Like the disasters that prompt them, responses can vary from large and complex to smaller-scale efforts that do not make the news. Disaster response and recovery work require a variety of workers from first responder groups such as law enforcement, firefighters, and emergency medical services to nontraditional responders such as utility workers, construction workers, other skilled support workers, relief workers, and volunteers. Ensuring the safety and health of this diverse group of responders is a vital part of any response. ... The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) led an interagency work group to develop the Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance(TM) (ERHMS(TM)) framework. The goal is to address the safety and health of responders across all phases of a response: predeployment, deployment, and postdeployment. The ERHMS framework, adopted by the National Response Team as a Technical Assistance Document, contains guidelines and recommendations applicable across a range of disaster types, settings, and sizes to address all aspects of protecting responders. The best way to incorporate the ERHMS framework into the ICS structure during a response is to create an ERHMS Unit. The ERHMS Unit, ideally under the purview of the Safety Officer, would comprise a group of medical and public health professionals (such as epidemiologists) who could carry out or direct responder health monitoring and surveillance for the response. The ERHMS framework and its principles will be described in this chapter. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Cyclonic Storms Emergencies Emergency Responders Fires Occupational Health Public Health Safety Safety Management Wildfires
• Keywords:
  Disaster Response Emergency Response Emerging Infectious Diseases First Responders Floods Hurricanes Public Health Safety Monitoring Safety Personnel Surveillance Worker Health

  More +
• ISBN:
  9781260143430
• ISSN:
  1047-4498
• Publisher:
  McGraw-Hill
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Book
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; New York ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OD - Office of the Director ; EPRO - Emergency Preparedness and Response Office ; DFSE - Division of Field Studies and Engineering
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20063680
• Citation:
  Current diagnosis & treatment: occupational & environmental medicine, 6th edition. LaDou J, Harrison R eds. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2021 Jun; :740-753
• Contact Point Address:
  Sherry L. Burrer, DVM, MPH, Emergency Preparedness and Response Office, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
• Editor(s):
  LaDou J; Harrison R
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2021
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Current diagnosis & treatment: occupational & environmental medicine, 6th edition
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bcd5c2fef23d593035329866c4729d438c96db8d456a032fa1cb4dfa17488a03f4c1565976eaaef88d05c9d69be79a156cbed1531efc7f592828905e46d8ff74
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/222241/cdc_222241_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 866.68 KB ]