Katrina Safety and Health Websites
for Disaster Response Workers

Executive, National Disaster Ministries
United Church of Christ Wider Church Ministries
700 Prospect Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
216-736-3211
Toll-free:  1-866-822-8224 x-3211
FAX: 216-736-2294
coppolaf@ucc.org
www.ucc.org
"National Disaster Ministries programs are funded by OCWM and OGHS"


Disaster Site Worker Orientation Briefing - Power Point 

There is a disaster site worker orientation briefing created by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).  We hope that it will be useful for orienting disaster site workers as they are being deployed to the Katrina disaster recovery area.

Link to Power Point presentation

Also available at the NIEHS Clearinghouse for Worker Health and Safety Training at: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/clear.htm.
 
Center for Disease Control:  http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/index.asp

Environmental Protection Agency

• EPA Katrina Response Page
• EPA Overview Page (Top Stories)
• EPA Region 6 Overview Page (includes LA — Top Katrina Stories). Region 6 Press Office: (214) 665-2200.

Guidance for Hurricane Katrina

• Interim Immunization Recommendations for Emergency Responders: Hurricane Katrina
  
• Hurricane Disaster in the U.S.: Interim Health Recommendations for Relief Workers
  
• Interim Guidance for Healthcare Professionals Advising Travelers to Hurricane Affected Areas in the United States
  
• Interim Guidelines for Fire Fighting Operations in the Hurricane Katrina Response  
  
• Assessment Tools for Occupational Safety and Health in Hospitals, Health Departments, and Shelters Involved in Response to Hurricane Katrina 
  
• Interim Health Recommendations for Workers who Handle Human Remains
  
• Management of Dead Bodies in Disaster Situations (PAHO)

  
  Safety

  • Worker Safety After a Flood
    
  • Worker Safety in a Power Outage
    
  • Electrical Safety and Generators: Preventing Electrocutions Associated with Generators Plugged Into Household Circuits  
    
  • Keeping Workers Safe During Clean Up and Recovery Operations Following Hurricanes, OSHA
    
  • Preventing Chain Saw Injuries During Tree Removal
    
  • Protect Yourself from Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
    
  • Updated U.S. Public Health Service Guidelines for the Management of Occupational Exposures to HBV, HCV, & HIV & Recommendations for Postexposure Prophylaxis
    
    Cleanup
    • NIOSH: Storm and Flood Cleanup
      
      Handling Human Remains
      • Interim Health Recommendations for Workers who Handle Human Remains
        
      • Management of Dead Bodies in Disaster Situations
        From the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
        
        Additional Information
        • Hurricane-Related Information for Health Care Professionals
          
        • Disaster Response, Cleanup and Safety for Workers
          
        • NIOSH: Emergency Response Resources for Workers

Editorial - Washington Post
September 10, 2005 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090901783.html 

RIGHTLY, human beings are the priority of the first responders working in New Orleans. But over the next few days and weeks, authorities must not lose sight of Hurricane Katrina's long-term impact, not only on human beings but also on the land, water, marshes, fish and animals near the city. 

At the moment -- with the Environmental Protection Agency's permission -- the floodwaters that have covered the city for two weeks are being pumped into Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River, where they will make their way into the rest of the Mississippi Delta and the Gulf of Mexico. At a minimum, that water contains pesticides, herbicides, household chemicals, gasoline from cars and at least two large oil spills, asbestos from building materials, heavy metals from batteries, whatever has leaked out of local toxic waste dumps and Superfund sites, bacteria from corpses and animal carcasses, and dirt containing unusually high levels of lead, long present in New Orleans's soil. 

No one knows what chemical reactions might take place in that water, which has been warm and stagnant for nearly two weeks. There are no precedents to help assess what its impact on the environment will be. As Darryl Malek-Wiley of the Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club put it, there is "no way scientists could ever recreate this mixture in a laboratory." 

Local and federal authorities are right, at this stage, not to engage in scaremongering. Ecosystems do recover from disasters, both natural and man-made. A recent report on the Chernobyl disaster showed that the impact on people and the environment had proved much less than expected. But because this kind of water pollution is unprecedented, and because it could cause permanent damage to drinking water, agriculture and the fishing industry in the region -- and could damage the region's viability and even its habitability -- it is extraordinarily important that the EPA continue its daily monitoring of the floodwaters, while they remain in the city and after they have been pumped out. 

At the moment, the EPA has about 100 people in New Orleans, doing exactly that. The danger, over the long term, is that with so many other projects requiring government resources, the EPA will not be given the staff and resources it needs to continue to track whatever damage the floodwaters are slowly wreaking on the region's water and soil. The agency is, in the words of one spokesman, "doing what we can with the resources we've got," including deploying employees from other parts of the country to join those already in the region. As Congress, the administration and others work on the recovery in coming months, they must not allow those numbers to drop further. The EPA mission is critical. 

© 2005 The Washington Post Company 

Mountains of Debris May Remain for Years 

By S. Heather Duncan
The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
September 9, 2005

South Mississippi counties are scrambling to find space for the mountains of garbage left behind by Hurricane Katrina, some of it so compacted that wood can't be separated from asbestos, propane tanks, sewage, rotting meat and hazardous waste. 

Rough estimates indicate the six hardest-hit counties may produce more than six times the solid waste generated in the entire state in a single year. Those piles of garbage will likely be around for years. 

"It's more debris than all the debris companies in the world could handle," said Frank Reddish, manager of the bureau of recovery and mitigation for Miami-Dade County. "It's going to start to stink and rot and have rats." 

Reddish was cleaning up debris piles a year after Hurricane Andrew, which affected only the southern half of Dade County. He estimated that it would take five years to remove all the garbage from Katrina. 

"After Andrew, it looked like mountain ranges out there, 10 stories tall and going for miles," Reddish said. 

Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, destroying entire neighborhoods, major bridges and businesses. Mark Williams, administrator of the Mississippi Solid Waste Division, said FEMA models indicate that Mississippi will have 35 million to 50 million cubic yards of debris. 

Stacked in a football field, the debris would tower two and one-half to three and one-half miles high. 

"But that may be low because I don't think FEMA models have ever seen anything like this," he said. "We're going to be allowing some things environmentally that we normally would not allow because we've just got to get this state back on its feet." 

Generally hazardous materials like asbestos must be separated from other building materials, but Williams acknowledged that may not happen. And at least one city, Biloxi, has discouraged residents from using and flushing their toilets and encouraged them to place plastic bags in the toilet, then discard the bags in their garbage. Raw sewage is not usually allowed in a landfill. 

"The reality is pathogens that end up in fecal matter often end up in a landfill anyway," said Dennis Truax, a civil engineering professor at Mississippi State University. 

And Truax, who has helped design South Mississippi landfills, said modern landfill designs can handle "virtually anything." 

Harrison County's landfill, on Menge Avenue near Pass Christian, has a liner, a system to catch liquids that seep out, and a methane gas collection system, Rockco said. It is permitted to expand 86 more acres, Williams said. 

Officials say local county landfills probably have enough capacity within their boundaries to handle the mixed household waste. DEQ officials are finding new landfill sites for waste related to buildings and structures in hard-hit Hancock and Harrison counties, said Mark Williams, administrator of the Solid Waste Branch of the state Department of Environmental Quality. 

It's so urgent to get rid of the teetering piles of rotting rubbish that the state won't be able to hold the usual public comment period for neighbors to voice their concerns about having a landfill nearby, Williams said. 

So the state is trying to find existing "vegetative landfills," which accept yard waste and don't require liners, that can be upgraded to handle building and structural debris. Two were identified in the Kiln-Picayune Road area Thursday, adding about 60 acres of capacity in Hancock County, Williams said. 

"If we have a site that becomes a problem for neighbors later, we can always shut it down," Williams said. 

Several temporary staging areas will probably also be established in south Hancock County because that area is not good for a full landfill, Williams said; the water table is too high and the beachfront property too valuable. 

Rockco said dirt pits in Harrison County are also being examined for suitability. 

With more industry and slightly less damage, Jackson County may have enough landfill capacity now, Williams said. 

The state has also set up a timber task force to look for ways to recover fallen timber for use in factories with boilers, Williams said. 

Robbie Wilburn, communications director for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, said the agency has five or six employees in South Mississippi trying to deal with waste disposal, but they have other duties too. 

The EPA is overseeing hazardous waste disposal, but David Ryan, EPA spokesman, said, "It's just too early to tell what's going to be done about debris. We're concerned about it, but we have limited resources. Our first priority is protecting the public health of people in New Orleans." 

Copyright © 2005, The Sun Herald