TY - JOUR
T1 - Accidental hazardous material releases with human impacts in the United States
T2 - Exploration of geographical distribution and temporal trends
AU - Sengul, Hatice
AU - Santella, Nicholas
AU - Steinberg, Laura J.
AU - Chermak, Christina
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by NSF, Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innnovation Division , grant 0302194 .
PY - 2010/9
Y1 - 2010/9
N2 - Objective: To investigate the circumstances and geographic and temporal distributions of hazardous material releases and resulting human impacts in the United States. METHOD: Releases with fatalities, injuries, and evacuations were identified from reports to the National Response Center between 1990 and 2008, correcting for data quality issues identified in previous studies. Results: From more than 550,000 reports, 861 deaths, 16,348 injuries and 741,427 evacuations were identified. Injuries from releases of chemicals at fixed facilities and natural gas from pipelines have decreased whereas evacuations from petroleum releases at fixed facilities have increased. CONCLUSION: Results confirm recent advances in chemical and pipeline safety and suggest directions for further improvement including targeted training and inspections and adoption of inherently safer design principles.
AB - Objective: To investigate the circumstances and geographic and temporal distributions of hazardous material releases and resulting human impacts in the United States. METHOD: Releases with fatalities, injuries, and evacuations were identified from reports to the National Response Center between 1990 and 2008, correcting for data quality issues identified in previous studies. Results: From more than 550,000 reports, 861 deaths, 16,348 injuries and 741,427 evacuations were identified. Injuries from releases of chemicals at fixed facilities and natural gas from pipelines have decreased whereas evacuations from petroleum releases at fixed facilities have increased. CONCLUSION: Results confirm recent advances in chemical and pipeline safety and suggest directions for further improvement including targeted training and inspections and adoption of inherently safer design principles.
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U2 - 10.1097/JOM.0b013e3181f131dd
DO - 10.1097/JOM.0b013e3181f131dd
M3 - Article
C2 - 20798641
AN - SCOPUS:77957803149
SN - 1076-2752
VL - 52
SP - 920
EP - 925
JO - Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
JF - Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
IS - 9
ER -