NIOSH Activities in the Deepwater Horizon Response Margaret Kitt and Max Kiefer National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Agenda Background Worker Health and Safety Issues NIOSH Objectives NIOSH Activities
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
DWH Oil Rig Explosion and Fire Sinking
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
CDC Assets in the DWH Response C/I/O Personnel % of Response NCEH/ATSDR (Lead) 80 16.9% NIOSH 249 52.7% OPHPR 90 19.1% OSELS 24 5.1% OD 18 3.8% OID 4 0.9% OSTLTS/SATA 6 1.3% Other (EPA LNO) 1 0.2% Total 472
Response Workers: Injury and Illness OSH Hazards Chemical Exposures Heat Stress Mental Health/Stress/Fatigue
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
NIOSH Activities Rostering Health Hazard Evaluations (HHEs) Technical Guidance and Communication Health Surveillance Toxicity Testing
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
Deep Water Horizon Response Worker Roster Effort Paper & Electronic Records As of 8-17-10 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%
NIOSH HEALTH HAZARD EVALUATIONS
Evaluated Workers at the Source
In-Situ Burns
Dispersant Use
Containment Boom
Decontamination of Vessels 20
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
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
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 http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/emergency.html
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
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
Injury and Illness Data (Note: Based on BP Reported Incident Data) April 23 July 27, 2010 Injuries Illnesses Characteristic Total Number % Number % Total 1136 53.3 994 46.7 2130 First Aid cases 959 51.9 888 48.1 1847 OSHA recordable cases Missed or Restricted Duty cases 175 62.3 106 37.7 281 28 70.0 12 30.0 40
NIOSH Injury and Illness Report of BP Incident Data
NIOSH Injury and Illness Report of BP Incident Data
NIOSH Injury and Illness Report of BP Incident Data
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
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
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
Margaret Kitt ajy8@cdc.gov Max Kiefer Mkiefer@cdc.gov
Questions?