Fatal Work Injuries Involving Natural Disasters, 1992–2006

Fayard, Gregory

doi:10.1097/dmp.0b013e3181b65895

Cited by 24 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Many occupational fatalities have occurred during post-storm clean-up and reconstruction. One study found that, at median, occupational deaths occurred 36.5 days after a storm event [7] and were most often associated with clean-up (44%), restorative construction (26%), public utilities restoration (8%), and security/policing (6%). Residents and volunteers trying to clean affected homes could suffer non-fatal injuries (including cuts, wounds, sprains, and strains) and other health risks during the course of removing debris or during minor and major home repairs (for instance, removing wet building materials or wet wall insulation).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Health Effects of Coastal Storms and Flooding in Urban Areas: A Review and Vulnerability Assessment

Lane

Charles-Guzman

Wheeler

et al. 2013

Journal of Environmental and Public Health

172

161

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Coastal storms can take a devastating toll on the public's health. Urban areas like New York City (NYC) may be particularly at risk, given their dense population, reliance on transportation, energy infrastructure that is vulnerable to flood damage, and high-rise residential housing, which may be hard-hit by power and utility outages. Climate change will exacerbate these risks in the coming decades. Sea levels are rising due to global warming, which will intensify storm surge. These projections make preparing for the health impacts of storms even more important. We conducted a broad review of the health impacts of US coastal storms to inform climate adaptation planning efforts, with a focus on outcomes relevant to NYC and urban coastal areas, and incorporated some lessons learned from recent experience with Superstorm Sandy. Based on the literature, indicators of health vulnerability were selected and mapped within NYC neighborhoods. Preparing for the broad range of anticipated effects of coastal storms and floods may help reduce the public health burden from these events.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Large-scale displacement could increase demands on the transportation infrastructure, and there may be occupational health concerns for municipal workers deployed to address flooding in transportation and communications infrastructure [7]. …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health Effects of Coastal Storms and Flooding in Urban Areas: A Review and Vulnerability Assessment

Lane

Charles-Guzman

Wheeler

et al. 2013

Journal of Environmental and Public Health

172

161

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Wildfires (80), hurricanes (72), and floods (62) accounted for most of these occupational weather-related fatalities [45] . Fatal injuries were associated with different phases of the response for each of these disaster types.…”

Section: Occupational Health Hazards and Effects Related To Climate Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For wildland fires, 80% of the 80 deaths affected workers who were attempting to put out or divert the fires, whereas for hurricanes, more than 60% of the 72 deaths occurred after the disaster event and affected workers involved in clean up, restorative construction, and restoration of public utilities. For flooding events, 45% of all 62 workers who died were operating or riding in a motor vehicle at the time of the injury [45] . Models predict lightning strikes in the United States to increase 12 ± 5% per degree Celsius and occur at about 50% greater frequency over the 21st century [63] .…”

Section: Occupational Health Hazards and Effects Related To Climate Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing the framework for considering the effects of climate change on worker safety and health

Schulte

Bhattacharya

Butler

et al. 2016

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene

116

113

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In 2009, a preliminary framework for how climate change could affect worker safety and health was described. That framework was based on a literature search from 1988–2008 that supported seven categories of climate-related occupational hazards: (1) increased ambient temperature; (2) air pollution; (3) ultraviolet exposure; (4) extreme weather; (5) vector-borne diseases and expanded habitats; (6) industrial transitions and emerging industries; and (7) changes in the built environment. This paper reviews the published literature from 2008–2014 in each of the seven categories. Additionally, three new topics related to occupational safety and health are considered: mental health effects, economic burden, and potential work safety and health impacts associated with the nascent field of climate intervention (geoengineering). Beyond updating the literature, the paper also identifies key priorities for action to better characterize and understand how occupational safety and health may be associated with climate change events and ensure that worker health and safety issues are anticipated, recognized, evaluated, and mitigated. These key priorities include research, surveillance, risk assessment, risk management, and policy development. Strong evidence indicates that climate change will continue to present occupational safety and health hazards, and this framework may be a useful tool for preventing adverse effects to workers.

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“…These typically workrelated deaths occur up to 37 days after landfall of the storm (Fayard 2009) and lead to an increase in the number of calls to Poison Control Centers (Forrester 2009). Recent studies also suggest that storms may influence the mortality rate through other less observable mechanisms (Combs et al 1996;Hendrickson and Vogt 1996;Jonkman and Kelman 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct and indirect mortality in Florida during the 2004 hurricane season

2010

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Previous studies have shown that natural disasters, and hurricanes in particular, have led to more deaths than those usually documented in short post-storm surveys. Such indirect deaths, thought to be related to dietary, stress or pre-existing medical conditions, can exceed the number of direct deaths and may persist for weeks or even months beyond the event itself. In the present study, cumulative sum of deviations plots are used to quantify the number of direct and indirect deaths resulting from Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne that made landfall in Florida in 2004. Results suggest that there was an elevated mortality for up to 2 months following each storm, resulting in a total of 624 direct and indirect deaths attributable to the storm. Trauma-related deaths that can be associated directly with the storm account for only ∼4% of the total storm-related mortality, while indirect mortality accounts for most storm-related deaths. Specifically, a large percentage of the elevated mortality was associated with heart (34%) and cancer-related deaths (19%), while diabetes (5%) and accident-related deaths (9%) account for a smaller but still significant percentage of the elevated mortality. The results further suggest that the elevated mortality was the result of additional deaths that would not have otherwise occurred within that 5 month period, and not simply a clustering of deaths that were inevitable between 1 August and 31 December 2004. The elevated mortality identified in this study is significantly greater than the official count of 31 direct and 113 indirect deaths resulting from the four hurricanes combined. This suggests a need for improved mortality counts and surveillance in order to better evaluate and identify effective prevention policies, and to identify preventable deaths.

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Fatal Work Injuries Involving Natural Disasters, 1992–2006

Cited by 24 publications

References 10 publications

Health Effects of Coastal Storms and Flooding in Urban Areas: A Review and Vulnerability Assessment

Health Effects of Coastal Storms and Flooding in Urban Areas: A Review and Vulnerability Assessment

Advancing the framework for considering the effects of climate change on worker safety and health

Direct and indirect mortality in Florida during the 2004 hurricane season

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