Psychological effects of a disastrous hydrogen fluoride spillage on the local community

Abstract

BackgroundOn September 27, 2012, at 3:43 pm, a hydrogen fluoride spill occurred in a manufacturing plant located at the 4th complex of the Gumi National Industrial Complex in Gumi City, South Korea. The present study aimed to evaluate the psychological effects of the hydrogen fluoride spill on the members of the community and to investigate their relationships with physical symptoms and changes in psychological effects occurring as time passed after the accident.MethodsThe 1st phase involved a survey of 1359 individuals that was conducted 1 month after the spill, and the 2nd phase involved a survey of 711 individuals that was conducted 7 months after the accident. The questionnaires included items for assessing demographic characteristics, hydrogen fluoride exposure level, physical symptoms, and psychological status. Physical symptoms were assessed to determine the persistence of irritations. Psychological status was assessed to investigate the impact of event level using the Impact of Event Scale – Revised Korean version (IES-R-K), and the anxiety level was assessed using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI).ResultsAs the hydrogen fluoride exposure level increased, the impact of event and anxiety levels increased significantly both 1 and 7 months after the accident (p < 0.05). The mean score of the impact of event levels decreased significantly from 33.33 ± 14.64 at 1 month after the accident to 28.68 ± 11.80 at 7 months after the accident (p < 0.05). The mean score of the anxiety levels increased significantly from 5.16 ± 6.59 at 1 month after the accident to 6.79 ± 8.41 at 7 months after the accident (p < 0.05). The risk of persistent physical symptoms at 7 months after the accident was significantly higher in females. The risk of persistent physical symptoms also increased significantly, with increasing age, hydrogen fluoride exposure, and impact of event levels (p < 0.05).ConclusionsThe present study found that the impact of event level and anxiety level increased with increasing hydrogen fluoride exposure. Anxiety levels persisted even after time passed. The risk of persistent physical symptoms at 7 months after the accident was higher in females, and it increased with increasing age, hydrogen fluoride exposure level, and impact of event levels.

What A Disaster! The Hydrofluoric Acid Leak in Gumi City in 2012: Lessons What We Have Earned From Review of the Past Hospital’s Disaster Response

“…Almost half of the patients visited the ED due to inhalation complaints, had been 100 m away from the incident location, and were diagnosed with chemical intoxication. The injuries re ected the delayed evacuation of Gumi's residents in the absence of governmental guidance, as described in two reports [12,13]. The eight HFEPs assigned to the MBG based on injury severity presented to the ED during the acute phase, consistent with the results of a CDC simulation study in which almost all acute casualties arrived at the nearest EDs within approximately 7 h [21].…”

“…Chemical leaks have occasionally occurred in the community over the past several years [9][10][11][12]. These events include the Hube Globe factory leak of hydrogen uoride (HF) in 2012, which drew not only domestic, but also international, attention due to the human and economic losses, as well as the severe environmental damage, including to crops, caused by the disaster [9,12,13]. The accident led to the creation of comprehensive chemical safety measures by the Ministry of the Environment and the establishment of the National Institute of Chemical Safety [14].…”

“…The HF leak impacted the local community, with patients sent to nearby local hospitals. However, those hospitals were unprepared for the disaster and had limited experience with zone setup, PPE and decontamination agent supplies, and the expansion of capacity to handle the sudden surge in patients [9,13,[15][16][17].…”

The Relationship between Psychological&nbsp;Impact&nbsp;and Self-control in Chinese Residents outside Hubei Province during the Epidemic of COVID-19: The mediation of self-regulated fatigue

“…Another difference was that we had removed the questionnaires from Hubei province while they included (Wang et al 2020). In addition, we also found there was nearly 15% of the residents suffering a severe impact comparing with 24.1% in the study which conducted in a month after a disastrous hydrogen uoride spillage (Yoo et al 2017) which seemed to be more terrible than COVID-19. However, IES-R was ever used as a tool of examining PTSD in the previous research (Kerai et al 2017;Hong et al 2009) and it had been proved that traumatic symptoms and the rebuilding of mental health would last from several months to several years.…”

Obituary: Dr. Hyun-Sul Lim’s (1952-2018) life as an epidemiologist, occupational and environmental medicine researcher, and family physician

“…Furthermore, his studies on bacterial dysentery [ 10 ], cholera [ 11 ], and brucellosis [ 12 ] were landmarks of the epidemiology of those infectious diseases in Korea. In the field of occupational medicine, he worked on burns caused by hydrogen fluoride [ 13 ], including a hydrogen fluoride spill accident in a manufacturing plant located at the fourth complex of the Gumi National Industrial Complex in Gumi City [ 14 ], and investigated farmers’ and fishers’ diseases. As for environmental diseases, he investigated pneumoconiosis in workers exposed to fumes containing manganese [ 15 ] and dioxin-contaminated soil at the Waegwan US Army Camp [ 16 ], and conducted an epidemiological survey of residents near a nuclear plant and analyzed epidemiological data of the victims of a subway fire in Daegu.…”