Accidental hazardous material releases with human impacts in the United States: exploration of geographical distribution and temporal trends.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the circumstances and geographic and temporal distributions of hazardous material releases and resulting human impacts in the United States.


METHODS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Sengul
Hatice
H
Department of Environmental Engineering, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
Santella
Nicholas
N
Steinberg
Laura J
LJ
Chermak
Christina
C
D000059:Accidents / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055884:Chemical Hazard Release / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D002617:Chemical Industry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004190:Disasters / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005579:Fossil Fuels / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015386:Hazardous Substances; D006801:Humans; D010578:Petroleum / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology
D005579:Fossil Fuels; D015386:Hazardous Substances; D010578:Petroleum