Non-Routine Environmental Hazards Encountered by National Park First Responders

Details

• Personal Author:
  Handy R ; Loder R ; Reeves K ; Schaefer C ; Sleeth D
• Description:
  The diversity of areas located within the National Park system presents a series of challenges to emergency responders within the parks. More than 20,000 full-time employees work in the National Park Service (NPS) as "park rangers," a position with assigned duties including emergency response, trail guiding, law enforcement, and other assignments that vary widely from park to park. In addition to routine and well-known occupational hazards, such as traumatic injuries, it is plausible to hypothesize that park rangers acting as first responders may encounter dangers on the job related to environmental exposures to hazardous materials. An investigation of the peer-reviewed literature failed to reveal previous studies or reports describing nonroutine environmental hazards encountered by National Park rangers. To better understand whether nonroutine environmental exposures occur in this population, a gray literature review was performed. This gray literature review aimed to identify environmental releases that could present a direct threat to human health in NPS-managed areas. Access World News, a database that contains "major national and international newspapers, as well as local and regional titles as well as newswires, blogs, Web-only content, videos, journals, magazines, transcripts and more" was chosen to provide access to a wide range of publications. In total, over 40 search terms and variants were used [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Emergency Responders Environmental Exposure Environmental Pollution Hazardous Substances Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Emergency Medical Services Chemical Hazard Release Chemical Hazards Emergency Responders Environmental Hazards First Responders Hazardous Materials Hazardous Substances Infectious Diseases Infectious Disease Transmission Occupational Hazards Outdoor Workers Systematic Reviews

  More +
• ISSN:
  1935-7893
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 8 ; Utah
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  16
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20066496
• Citation:
  Disaster Med Public Health Prep 2022 Oct; 16(5):1749-1750
• Contact Point Address:
  Rayne Loder, MHS, PA-C, Physician Assistant Program, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
• Email:
  rayne.loder@tufts.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• Performing Organization:
  University of Utah
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness
• End Date:
  20280630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4cf332a199148233cee4dc245136306d323fbb7286f8eb5c2a7d8fc73f7b57e5f7a10d332ad50d6aa03758f2307b4800a76f2e2777e8c46091c52710d2891416
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/231099/cdc_231099_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 88.15 KB ]