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J Environ Manage 2021 Jun 4;293:112941. Epub 2021 Jun 4.

The University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Department of Environmental Engineering and Occupational Safety and Health, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 6, 21000, Novi Sad, Serbia.

Industrial demand has intensified production, utilization, and transport of hazardous materials (hazmat). As the production and use of hazardous materials are frequently carried out at different locations, accidents during the transport of hazmats constantly occur. The most critical points on the hazmat routs within inhabited urban or rural areas are centres where the population with increased vulnerability reside. Read More

Prehosp Disaster Med 2021 May 27:1-5. Epub 2021 May 27.

Kings County Hospital and SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, Brooklyn, New YorkUSA.

Introduction: Hazardous material (HAZMAT) protocols require health care providers to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) when caring for contaminated patients. Multiple levels of PPE exist (level D - level A), providing progressively more protection. Emergent endotracheal intubation (ETI) of victims can become complicated by the cumbersome nature of PPE. Read More

Ther Adv Infect Dis 2021 Jan-Dec;8:2049936121998562. Epub 2021 Feb 25.

Department of Surgical, Oncological and Oral Science (Di.Chir.On.S.), University of Palermo, Italy. Departement of Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Emergency, Policlinico Paolo Giaccone, Via del Vespro 129, 90127, Palermo, Italy.

Background: Italy was the first Western country to be heavily affected by COVID-19. Healthcare workers (HCWs) were exposed to a high risk of occupational infection, partially due to insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies. This study aimed to describe the practices, availability, training, confidence in PPE use and the adverse effects due to extended PPE use, as reported by HCWs in Italy. Read More

Infect Dis Model 2020 15;5:905-917. Epub 2020 Oct 15.

Department of Mathematics and Faculty of Medicine, The University of Ottawa, 150 Louis-Pasteur Pvt, Ottawa, ON, K1N6N5, Canada.

Ebola virus - one of the deadliest viral diseases, with a mortality rate around 90% - damages the immune system and organs, with symptoms including episodic fever, chills, malaise and myalgia. The Recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus-based candidate vaccine (rVSV-ZEBOV) has demonstrated clinical efficacy against Ebola in ring-vaccination clinical trials. In order to evaluate the potential effect of this candidate vaccine, we developed risk equations for the daily risk of Ebola infection both currently and after vaccination. Read More

J Safety Res 2020 09 29;74:71-79. Epub 2020 Apr 29.

Impact Research, LLC, 10480 Little Patuxent Pkwy #1050, Columbia, MD 21044, United States.

Introduction: Cargo Tank Trucks (CTTs) are a primary surface transportation carrier of hazardous materials (hazmat) in the United States and CTT rollover crashes are the leading cause of injuries and fatalities from hazmat transportation incidents. CTTs are susceptible to rollover crashes because of their size, distribution of weight, a higher center of gravity, and the surging and sloshing of liquid cargo during transportation. This study identified and quantified the effects of various factors on the probability of rollover and release of hazmat in traffic crashes where a CTT was involved. Read More

Prehosp Disaster Med 2020 Dec 15;35(6):645-650. Epub 2020 Sep 15.

Department of Emergency Medicine, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore.

Background: Personal protective equipment (PPE) are essential for medical personnel responding to hazardous materials (HAZMAT) incidents. However, their impermeable design causes increased physiological strain and reduced thermoregulation, limiting work times and causing heat-related illnesses (HRI). Use of wearable cooling devices slow heat accumulation and have been shown to reduce thermal and cardiovascular strain in such situations. Read More

J Health Pollut 2020 Sep 25;10(27):200909. Epub 2020 Aug 25.

COMSATS University Islamabad, Attock Campus, Pakistan.

Background: Hazardous material (HAZMAT) transportation drivers are responsible for safe delivery of consignments and face multiple challenges carrying out their duties. Drivers are also the first to respond to emergencies and accidents.

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to identify the essential competencies needed by HAZMAT transportation drivers to deal with emergencies. Read More

Aust N Z J Public Health 2020 Aug 6;44(4):320-323. Epub 2020 Jul 6.

Metropolitan Fire Service, South Australia.

Objective: Hazardous materials (HAZMAT) incidents, including the deliberate release of toxic chemicals, can cause a significant drain on resources as well as heightened anxiety in the community. Recent high-profile incidents, including the 2018 illegal waste storage fire in Victoria, Australia, have highlighted the complexity but also the value of multidisciplinary approaches to HAZMAT events. This brief report examines issues from a public health perspective and reflects on the experience of such events in South Australia. Read More

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2020 Oct 30;27(28):35814-35827. Epub 2020 Jun 30.

Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.

Water pollution is one of the most important environmental challenges and also one of the main causes of death in the world. Transporting oil products on roads by trucks and their accidents lead to the release of these chemicals into the environment, resulting in water resources pollution. Thus, the main goal of this study is to evaluate the risk assessment of the water resources pollution in the road of Sanandaj to Marivan, Kurdistan province, Iran. Read More

Accid Anal Prev 2020 Jul 19;142:105497. Epub 2020 May 19.

Department of Transportation Engineering, The University of Seoul, 163 Seoulsiripdae-ro Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02504, South Korea. Electronic address:

Although crashes involving hazardous material (HAZMAT) vehicles on expressways do not occur frequently compared with other types of vehicles, the number of lives lost and social damage is very high when a HAZMAT vehicle-involved crash occurs. Therefore, it is essential to identify the leading causes of crashes involving HAZMAT vehicles and make specific countermeasures to improve the safety of expressways. This study aims to employ the association rules mining (ARM) approach to discover the contributory crash-risk factors of HAZMAT vehicle-involved crashes on expressways. Read More

Prehosp Disaster Med 2020 Aug 11;35(4):364-371. Epub 2020 May 11.

SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, Brooklyn, New YorkUSA.

Introduction: Physicians' management of hazardous material (HAZMAT) incidents requires personal protective equipment (PPE) utilization to ensure the safety of victims, facilities, and providers; therefore, providing effective and accessible training in its use is crucial. While an emphasis has been placed on the importance of PPE, there is debate about the most effective training methods. Circumstances may not allow for a traditional in-person demonstration; an accessible video training may provide a useful alternative. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020 04 17;17(8). Epub 2020 Apr 17.

School of Logistics, Beijing Wuzi University, Beijing 101149, China.

The accidents caused by hazardous material during road transportation may result in catastrophic losses of lives and economics, as well as damages to the environment. Regarding the deficiencies in the information systems of hazmat transportation accidents, this study conducts a survey of 371 accidents with consequence Levels II to V involving road transportation in China from 2004-2018. The study proposes a comprehensive analysis framework for understanding the overall status associated with key factors of hazmat transportation in terms of characteristics, cause, and severity. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020 02 19;17(4). Epub 2020 Feb 19.

College of Transportation Engineering, Tongji University, Key Laboratory of Road and Traffic Engineering of the State Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rail Infrastructure Durability and System Safety, Shanghai 201804, China.

With the increasing demand of hazardous material (Hazmat), traffic accidents occurred frequently during Hazmat transportation, which had caused widespread concern in communities. Therefore, a good understanding of Hazmat transportation accident characteristics and contributing factors is of practical importance. In this study, 1721 Hazmat accidents that have occurred during road transportation for the period 2014-2017 in China were examined, and a random-parameters ordered probit model was established to explore the influence of contributing factors on the severity of accidents by accounting for unobserved heterogeneity in the data. Read More

Sensors (Basel) 2020 Feb 17;20(4). Epub 2020 Feb 17.

Farmer School of Business, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA.

In the first part of the review, we observed that there exists a significant gap between the predictive and prescriptive models pertaining to crash risk prediction and minimization, respectively. In this part, we review and categorize the optimization/ prescriptive analytic models that focus on minimizing crash risk. Although the majority of works in this segment of the literature are related to the hazardous materials (hazmat) trucking problems, we show that (with some exceptions) many can also be utilized in non-hazmat scenarios. Read More

Nurse Educ Today 2020 Apr 30;87:104358. Epub 2020 Jan 30.

Department of Nursing, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.

Background: Hazardous materials (Hazmat) disaster is a specific event with low probability but may be a heavy burden on public health. Competence in Hazmat disaster emergency management is necessary for nurses who care about mass casualties in the first line, especially for nurses in military hospitals. However, less attention has been paid to evaluation of competence of Hazmat disaster emergency responses using tabletop exercises. Read More

MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020 Jan 31;69(4):109-113. Epub 2020 Jan 31.

On April 25, 2019, a farm tractor towing two 2-ton ammonia tanks on a county road in Lake County, Illinois, experienced a mechanical failure that resulted in the release of anhydrous ammonia, a colorless, pungent, irritating gas that can cause severe respiratory and ocular damage (1). Approximately 80% of anhydrous ammonia produced in the United States is used as a fertilizer in agriculture (1). Eighty-three persons, including first responders, motorists, and neighborhood residents, were evaluated at area hospitals because of exposure to the gas. Read More

J Am Vet Med Assoc 2020 Feb;256(3):322-332

Objective: To document injuries and illnesses incurred by search-and-recovery (S&R) dogs deployed to northern California in response to the Camp Fire wildfire of November 2018 and identify fire scene-specific hazards.

Animals: 30 human remains detection-certified S&R dogs deployed to the Camp Fire scene.

Procedures: Handlers of the S&R dogs completed a survey after deployment. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2019 10 25;16(21). Epub 2019 Oct 25.

Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Outsourcing the hazardous materials (HazMat) transportation is an effective way for manufacturing enterprises to avoid risks and accidents as well as to retain sustainable development in economic growth and social inclusion while not bringing negative impacts on the public and the environment. It is imperative to develop viable and effective approaches to selecting the most appropriate HazMat transportation alternatives. This paper aims at proposing an integrated multi-criteria group decision making approach that combines (PHFLTS) and the (TOPSIS) to address the problem of HazMat transportation alternative evaluation and selection. Read More

Environ Toxicol Chem 2019 12 9;38(12):2682-2687. Epub 2019 Nov 9.

Columbia Environmental Research Center, US Geological Survey, Columbia, Missouri, USA.

We conducted acute lethality tests with white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and Ceriodaphnia dubia exposed to copper and zinc at dissolved organic carbon concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 5.5 mg/L. Read More

Emerg Med J 2019 08 4;36(8):515-516. Epub 2019 Jul 4.

Research Centre for Topical Drug Delivery and Toxicology, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK.

Emerg Med J 2019 08 4;36(8):515. Epub 2019 Jul 4.

Val-de-Grâce Military Health Academy, Paris, France.

Int J Emerg Med 2018 Sep 18;11(1):38. Epub 2018 Sep 18.

Department of Emergency Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, 1603 W. Congress Pkwy, Chicago, IL, USA.

Background: To design and implement a replicable disaster training curriculum for the first on-call medical student hazardous materials response team.

Methods: Twenty-eight first-year medical students participated in a simulated citywide bioterrorism disaster drill. Students were notified of the Code Orange via email, a pager system, and group SMS text message. Read More

Prehosp Disaster Med 2019 Jun 28;34(3):322-329. Epub 2019 May 28.

Queensland University of Technology,Kelvin Grove, Queensland,Australia.

Introduction: Paramedics are tasked with providing 24/7 prehospital emergency care to the community. As part of this role, they are also responsible for providing emergency care in the event of a major incident or disaster. They play a major role in the response stage of such events, both domestic and international. Read More

J Hazard Mater 2019 08 20;375:96-106. Epub 2019 Apr 20.

DIBRIS, Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics and Systems Engineering, University of Genova, Genoa 16145, Italy. Electronic address:

This work proposes two algorithms to the Bi-objective Shortest Path (BSP) problem, considering a fuzzy objective. Such approaches originally extend two classic label setting algorithms to solve BSP, in particular, the first one using a modified Gandibleux revision of Martin's algorithm and the second one based on the A* algorithm acceleration technique. The proposed extensions differ from the previous classic approaches for two main aspects: the two methods solve BSP problems with a linear objective function and a min-max objective function; the max-min objective considered in the BSP is a fuzzy objective function. Read More

Prehosp Disaster Med 2019 Apr 14;34(2):197-202. Epub 2019 Apr 14.

2.Department of Emergency Medicine, Division of Disaster Medicine,Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,Boston, Massachusetts,USA.

Introduction: The recent increase in natural disasters and mass shootings highlights the need for medical providers to be prepared to provide care in extreme environments. However, while physicians of all specialties may respond in emergencies, disaster medicine training is minimal or absent from most medical school curricula in the United States. A voluntary Disaster Medicine Certificate Series (DMCS) was piloted to fill this gap in undergraduate medical education. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2019 May 14;665:937-943. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Department of Defence, Technical Support Working Group, Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office, US Government, Virginia, USA; Emergency Response TIPS, LLC, Virginia, USA.

Permeation of oxides of nitrogen and sulfur gases through skin and the consequences of dermal exposure are still poorly understood. We measured the penetration profile of three common industrial gases through skin, for short-term exposures relevant to HAZMAT scenarios. Time variations of gas concentration, clothing effects, temperature and humidity on epidermal absorption and penetration were assessed. Read More

J Med Internet Res 2019 02 19;21(2):e12894. Epub 2019 Feb 19.

School of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Randwick, Australia.

Background: A growing body of research suggests that resilience training can play a pivotal role in creating mentally healthy workplaces, particularly with regard to protecting the long-term well-being of workers. Emerging research describes positive outcomes from various types of resilience training programs (RTPs) among different occupational groups. One specific group of workers that may benefit from this form of proactive resilience training is first responders. Read More

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2020 05 15;30(3):537-546. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Emergency Response TIPS, LLC, Alexandria, VA, USA.

The toxic release of aldehyde vapours during a hazardous material (HAZMAT) incident primarily results in respiratory concerns for the unprotected public. However, skin absorption may be an important concurrent exposure route that is poorly understood for this scenario. This study provides experimental data on the skin absorption properties of common aldehydes used in industry, including acetaldehyde, acrolein, benzaldehyde and formaldehyde, in gaseous or vapour form using an adapted in vitro technique. Read More