Acute Chemical Incidents With Injured First Responders, 2002-2012

Melnikova, Natalia; Wu, Jennifer; Yang, Alice; Orr, Maureen F.

doi:10.1017/dmp.2017.50

Cited by 22 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…Elevations in CO have been documented in biomonitoring among both urban and wildland firefighters [ 1 , 3 , 16 ]. Furthermore, this has been observed despite reported compliance with personal protective equipment use requirements [ 17 ]. Because work-related CO exposure risk can be mitigated but not necessarily eliminated among firefighters, taking into account concomitant sources of exposure in this group can be particularly relevant to occupational health management for such workers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smoking practices in relation to exhaled carbon monoxide in an occupational cohort

et al. 2020

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Background Exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) remains a leading occupational hazard in firefighters, but cigarette and waterpipe smoking likely contributes to the other sources of CO in such workers. The aim of this study was to estimate the contribution of self-reported active cigarette smoking, waterpipe use, and potential job-related sources of CO to the level of exhaled CO in firefighters. Methods We surveyed the personnel of 18 fire stations (N = 842), median age 28 years, who participated at an annual screening not timed to coincide with recent firefighting. We surveyed smoking and waterpipe history, exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS), use of coal for health and biomass for cooking and time since last exposure to firefighting in the workplace. We measured exhaled CO with an instantaneous reading device (piCO Smokerlyzer). We used multivariable regression models to test the association of time since last smoked cigarette (≤12 h) and waterpipe (≤12 h) and time since last fire (≤6 h) with exhaled CO. Results In analysis limited to men (93.5% of all surveyed), 42% were daily cigarette; 1% were waterpipe smokers; 94% were exposed to SHS, 29% used coal for heating and 4% used biomass for cooking. The median CO was 4 (interquartile range 3;8) ppm. Age (beta 0.74 per 10 years, p < 0.001), use of biomass fuel for cooking (beta 1.38, p = 0.05), cigarette smoked in the last 12 h (beta 8.22, p < 0.001), waterpipe smoked in the last 12 h (beta 23.10, p < 0.001) were statistically associated with CO, but not time since last fire (≤6 h) (beta 4.12, p = 0.12). There was a significant interaction between older age and firefighting for exhaled CO (p = 0.03). Conclusions Cigarette and recent waterpipe smoking are associated with increased exhaled CO in firefighters. Firefighting itself was a less potent contributor to exhaled CO when measured at an annual screening, but an age interaction was manifested.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smoking practices in relation to exhaled carbon monoxide in an occupational cohort

et al. 2020

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“…Multiple studies have found that the prevalence of appropriate respiratory protection was low among emergency responders to the World Trade Center collapse ( 7 ). A recent analysis of ATSDR surveillance data found that, among 1,275 emergency personnel with known PPE status who were injured or became ill during acute hazardous substance release incident responses during 2002–2012, only 382 (30.0%) wore some type of respiratory protection ( 8 ). Respiratory protection prevalence was 45.8% among injured firefighters, compared with 1.4% among police and 2.3% among emergency medical services personnel.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phosphine Exposure Among Emergency Responders — Amarillo, Texas, January 2017

Hall¹,

Patel²,

Victory³

et al. 2018

MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep.

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“…Almost twice as many incidents occurred in fixed facilities (8,711) than during transportation (4,818). In addition, nonfatally injured persons were approximately 10 times more frequently associated with a fixed-facility incident (4,523) than a transportation incident (421).…”

Section: Incident Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are often injured in chemical incidents and are not always wearing PPE. One study found that many first responders were injured in chemical incidents while responding to illegal methamphetamine laboratories (8). First responders might be exposed to a diverse array of chemicals.…”

Section: Public Health Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most chemical incidents and related injuries occurred during weekdays with the greatest number on Tuesday for transportation and Wednesday for fixed-facility incidents. More incidents(8,767 [64.8%]) occurred during the normal workday than nighttime. No time period was recorded for 203 (1%) incidents.Most transportation-related incidents occurred in three phases: 1,757 (36.5%) during unloading of a stationary vehicle or vessel, 1,212 (25.2%) while shipment was in route but not discovered until the vehicle or vessel stopped, and 1,045 (21.7%) during moving shipment.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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