NIOSH Activities in the Deepwater Horizon Response. Margaret Kitt and Max Kiefer National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Transcription

1 NIOSH Activities in the Deepwater Horizon Response Margaret Kitt and Max Kiefer National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

2 Agenda Background Worker Health and Safety Issues NIOSH Objectives NIOSH Activities

3 Deepwater Horizon Background Largest accidental oil spill in U.S. history On April 20, 2010 drilling rig exploded, followed by fire and sinking Explosion killed 11 platform workers and injured 17 others Leak was largely stopped by capping the gushing wellhead on July 15 after releasing about 4.9 million barrels of oil

4 DWH Oil Rig Explosion and Fire Sinking

5 Deepwater Horizon: Some Numbers Estimated oil flow rate of 35,000-60,000 barrels per day Total oil/gas recovered/flared to date: 771,283 barrels of oil and 1,729.6 million cubic ft of gas Personnel: 46,271 Boom deployed: 9,354,842 ft Dispersant use: 1,776,995 gals (1,071,315 surface/705,680 subsea) 672 miles of shoreline impacted

6

7 CDC Assets in the DWH Response C/I/O Personnel % of Response NCEH/ATSDR (Lead) % NIOSH % OPHPR % OSELS % OD % OID 4 0.9% OSTLTS/SATA 6 1.3% Other (EPA LNO) 1 0.2% Total 472

8

9 Response Workers: Injury and Illness OSH Hazards Chemical Exposures Heat Stress Mental Health/Stress/Fatigue

10

11 NIOSH Objectives To provide opportunity for every response worker to be counted To prevent illness and injury real-time during the event by reducing or eliminating exposures

12 NIOSH Activities Rostering Health Hazard Evaluations (HHEs) Technical Guidance and Communication Health Surveillance Toxicity Testing

13 NIOSH Activities Rostering Rostered over 52,000 response workers Staging areas and training sites Paper-based and web-based BP employees, contractors, federal and state employees, volunteers Rostering Workers in LA

14 Deep Water Horizon Response Worker Roster Effort Paper & Electronic Records As of Total Collected: 52,253 Targeted Workers BP Staff BP Contractors Volunteers Federal State & Local Percentage Male 81% Female 19% Asian 2% Hispanic 9% Black 38% All Others 52%

15 NIOSH HEALTH HAZARD EVALUATIONS

16 Evaluated Workers at the Source

17 In-Situ Burns

18 Dispersant Use

19 Containment Boom

20 Decontamination of Vessels 20

21 Health Hazard Evaluations: Six Work Categories On Shore Evaluations: Beach clean-up Wildlife rehabilitation Equipment decontamination and waste stream management Off Shore Evaluations: Source Control In-situ burns Booming, skimming, dispersant operations HHE staff at source control

22 Health Hazard Evaluations Additionally, Psychological Stress/Work Organization Focus Groups Conducted with Safety Officers Note: HHE Interim reports #1 through #5 available on NIOSH website; remainder of reports forthcoming

23 NIOSH and OSHA Collaboration Interim Guidance for Protecting Deepwater Horizon Response Workers and Volunteers National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor June 25, 2010 For more information on general disaster response, consult the NIOSH Emergency Response Topic Page at

24 DEEPWATER HORIZON RESPONSE Gulf of Mexico Oil Cleanup Recent NIOSH Webpage Updates: NIOSH Report of Deepwater Horizon Response/Unified Area Command Illness and Injury Data Updated August 13 NIOSH Ongoing Health Hazard Evaluation: Deepwater Horizon Response Updated August 13 NIOSH Voluntary Roster of Deepwater Horizon Response Workers Updated August 12

25 Health Surveillance Working across data sources BP/UAC health data, State surveillance data, Poison Control Centers, BioSense BP injury and illness data analysis Currently on update #4 (posted on NIOSH website) Working with HHS/ASPR on Medic Log data Health Symptom Surveys from HHEs

26 Injury and Illness Data (Note: Based on BP Reported Incident Data) April 23 July 27, 2010 Injuries Illnesses Characteristic Total Number % Number % Total First Aid cases OSHA recordable cases Missed or Restricted Duty cases

27 NIOSH Injury and Illness Report of BP Incident Data

28 NIOSH Injury and Illness Report of BP Incident Data

29 NIOSH Injury and Illness Report of BP Incident Data

30 Chemical Exposures: Crude/Weathered Oil/Dispersants Oil and/or dispersants were noted as a contributing factor in 13 cases All were treated by first aid alone Nine occurred offshore Six cases were dermatologic in nature, four led to injury (such as slipping on oily surface), and three were attributed to oil or dispersant vapor exposure

31 Heat Stress 141/192 (73%) heat stress cases occurred onshore 110 of these occurred among laborers such as beach cleanup workers, boom decontamination workers, heavy equipment operators, and general laborers

32 Toxicity Testing Acute animal testing (rats) to be conducted on: Dispersant (Nalco Corexit 9500A) Crude Oil from the source (sample from well head obtained May 23 rd ) Dispersant/crude oil mixture Inhalation studies Measuring pulmonary, cardiovascular, and CNS outcomes Dermal studies Assessing hypersensitivity and immunemediated responses

33 Margaret Kitt Max Kiefer

34 Questions?