title: Accidental hazardous material releases with human impacts in the United States: exploration of geographical distribution and temporal trends.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hatice
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sengul
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Santella
authors.forename: Laura J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chermak
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D005579:Fossil Fuels; D015386:Hazardous Substances; D010578:Petroleum