title: Top five industries resulting in injuries from acute chemical incidents—Hazardous Substance Emergency Events Surveillance, nine states, 1999-2008.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Because industries using and/or producing chemicals are located in close proximity to populated areas, U.S. residents are at risk for unintentional chemical exposures.
  
  
  METHODS
  1999-2008.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) system was operated by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry during January 1991-September 2009 to collect data that would enable researchers to describe the public health consequences of chemical releases and to develop activities aimed at reducing the harm from such releases. This report summarizes data for the top five industries resulting in injuries from an acute chemical incident (lasting <72 hours) occurring in the nine states (Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin) that participated in HSEES during its last 10 full years of data collection (1999-2008).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five industries (truck transportation, educational services, chemical manufacturing, utilities, and food manufacturing) accounted for approximately one third of all incidents in which persons were injured as a result of unintentional release of chemicals; the same five industries were responsible for approximately one third of all persons injured as a result of such releases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Acute chemical incidents in these five industries resulted in serious public health implications including the need for evacuations, morbidity, and mortality. PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATIONS: Targeting chemical incident prevention and preparedness activities towards these five industries provides an efficient use of resources for reducing chemical exposures. A variety of methods can be used to minimize chemical releases in industries. One example is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's hierarchy of controls model, which focuses on controlling exposures to occupational hazards. The hierarchy includes elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and use of personal protective equipment.
authors: Ayana R
authors: AR
authors: Anderson
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Wu
mesh_terms: D055884:Chemical Hazard Release / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002617:Chemical Industry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004493:Education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019649:Food Industry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012722:Sewage; D014186:Transportation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D018508:Water Purification; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage