The federal government must help train emergency personnel and provide updated safety guidelines so the workers are better protected against hazards such as they faced at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, according to a public health workshop report by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a component of the federal National Institutes of Health.
September is Emergency Preparedness Month. To mark this event, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) announces the new NIOSH Emergency Preparedness and Response Directory web page.
OSHA has just published a new booklet that outlines safe procedures for emergency responders who may face fires and explosions caused by combustible dust. "Firefighting Precautions at Facilities with Combustible Dust"describes how combustible dust explosions occur and uses historic incidents to illustrate how firefighting operations can prevent combustible dust explosions.
Investigation found lack of regulation at all levels of government
April 23, 2014
The lessons learned from the deadly 2013 West, Texas explosion and fire are not being passed along to emergency responders in other communities with facilities that store ammonium nitrate (AN), according to the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB).
The traditional occupational safety and health programs of the twentieth century were designed, by and large, to prevent work-related injury, illness, and death in workplaces where hazards usually were recognizable and predictable. In the twenty-first century, scientists and decision-makers have had to develop additional skills and strategies to address another type of hazard: the risks that emergency responders face in the line of duty from unpredictable, uncontrolled conditions encountered in large-scale disasters.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article pertains to any workplace where risks demand mindfulness, alertness and all-around situational awareness, though the author specifically addresses fire fighters and other first responders.
Delay angers advocates, but administrators point to missing documentation
November 26, 2013
Only 112 of the tens of thousands of claims submitted to the 9/11 fund established by Congress for victims of 9/11 have been resolved, meaning determinations have been made and money awarded to the claimants. The $27 million paid out so far amounts to less than one percent of the $2.8 billion fund.
Construction and transit accidents, the geography/personality connection and emergency responders’ exposure to disaster-related toxins were all in this week’s EHS-related news as featured on ISHN.com:
When responding to a disaster, emergency workers may face unique health risks from exposures to hazardous chemical and environmental contaminants in forms and circumstances often not seen in other occupations.
Created with first responder and industrial safety professionals in mind, Pelican Products, the global leader in the design and manufacture of high-impact protective case solutions and advanced portable lighting systems, has introduced the compact and lightweight 3315 LED flashlight.