Risk factors for acute chemical releases with public health consequences: Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance in the U.S., 1996–2001

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Environ Health
• Personal Author:
  Ruckart, Perri Z ; Wattigney, Wendy A ; Kaye, Wendy E
• Description:
  Background
  
  Releases of hazardous materials can cause substantial morbidity and mortality. To reduce and prevent the public health consequences (victims or evacuations) from uncontrolled or illegally released hazardous substances, a more comprehensive analysis is needed to determine risk factors for hazardous materials incidents.
  
  Methods
  
  Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) data from 1996 through 2001 were analyzed using bivariate and multiple logistic regression. Fixed-facility and transportation-related events were analyzed separately.
  
  Results
  
  For fixed-facility events, 2,327 (8%) resulted in at least one victim and 2,844 (10%) involved ordered evacuations. For transportation-related events, 759 (8%) resulted in at least one victim, and 405 (4%) caused evacuation orders. Fire and/or explosion were the strongest risk factors for events involving either victims or evacuations. Stratified analysis of fixed-facility events involving victims showed a strong association for acid releases in the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industry. Chlorine releases in fixed-facility events resulted in victims and evacuations in more industry categories than any other substance.
  
  Conclusions
  
  Outreach efforts should focus on preventing and preparing for fires and explosions, acid releases in the agricultural industry, and chlorine releases in fixed facilities.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Disasters Emergencies Environmental Exposure Environmental Monitoring Epidemiological Monitoring Hazardous Substances Humans Industry Population Surveillance Public Health Administration Registries Risk Assessment Risk Factors Time Factors Transportation United States Government Agencies

  More +
• Source:
  Environ Health. 2004; 3:10.
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Volume:
  3
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:1646f5a1c959799e336df1036bd76f13385743264906b7e42e651184192a824e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/3535/cdc_3535_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 251.89 KB ]