Four Year Report
1998-2001
• Executive Summary
• Introduction & Methods
• Results
• Summary of Results
• List of Tables / Figures
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Results
Substances
Victims
Evacuation
Contingency Plans
Clandestine Methamphetamine Labs
Uses of HSEES Data
Oregon Health Services reported a total of 797 hazardous substances emergency events in 1998 - 2001 to the HSEES system; only 25 (3%) of these events were threatened releases. 571 (72%) of the events occurred at fixed facilities and 226 (28%) were transportation-related events (Table 1 (pdf) ). The Map of Oregon and Table 2 show the number of events by county. Table 2 (pdf) also shows the number of events of each type for each county. Multnomah, Linn, Marion, and Clackamas counties had the greatest numbers of HSEES events. However, Gilliam, Sherman, Union, Columbia and Linn counties experienced the greatest number of events per 10,000 persons in the county population. For Gilliam County, the high rate can be explained by the presence of a large hazardous waste facility in a county with a small population. Sherman and Union counties experienced a greater proportion of transportation events related to the presence of major highways traversing the counties. Columbia and Linn counties? rates may be related to the presence of industrial facilities within their counties; more than 80% of their incidents occurred at fixed facilities.
The areas or locations in fixed facilities where releases most often occurred were storage above ground, dump/waste areas, process vessels, and indoor non-industrial living areas (Figure1 (pdf) ).
In transportation-related events, 79% occurred during ground transport (for example, truck, van, or tractor), and only 8% involved transport by rail (Figure 2 (pdf) ). The remaining transportation-related events involved water, air, or pipeline transport.
Factors contributing to fixed-facility events were also reported (Figure 3 (pdf) ). Equipment failure was a contributing factor in 189 (33%) of these events. 141 (25%) events were reported as involving human error, 93 (16%) involving deliberate damage/illegal activity, and the remainder were attributable to other factors. (Information on factors contributing to transportation events was not collected until 2000.)
86% of all events involved the release of only one substance. Two substances were released in approximately 9% of the events, and the remainder (5%) involved the release of more than two substances (Table 3 (pdf) ).
Chemicals were either released or threatened to be released in the events. 957 (94%) of the substances were actually released, and 57(6%) of the substances were threatened to be released. The number of substances released (1021) was higher than the number of events (797). Most substances released were either spills (72%) or air emissions (15%). Of the spills, 66% occurred at fixed-facilities. Of the air emissions, 95% occurred in fixed-facility events. The remaining releases resulted from fires (3%) or other types of releases (or combinations of types of releases) (6%).
Of the events with known time of occurrence, 35% occurred between 6:00 AM and 12 noon, and 40% between 12 noon and 6:00 PM. Approximately 18% of events occurred on a Saturday or Sunday. Most occurred mid-week. The greatest numbers of events occurred during March and June.
SUBSTANCES
Of the 11 categories into which HSEES substances were grouped, the categories of
substances most commonly released in fixed-facility events were "volatile organic compounds," followed by "other substances" (Table 4). In transportation-related events, "other substances" was the most commonly released substance category, followed by "volatile organic compounds". The 10 substances most frequently released in Oregon during 1998-2001 are listed in Table 5 (pdf) .
VICTIMS
A total of 334 victims were involved in 114 events (14% of all events) (Table 6 (pdf) ). Of the events with victims, 62% involved only one victim, and 72% involved either one or two victims. For Oregon, the percentage of fixed-facility events with victims was about the same as the percentage of transportation events with victims, but transportation events had a slightly higher percent of single victim events.
The substances most frequently released may not necessarily be the most likely to result in victims (Table 7). For example, volatile organic compounds were released during 288 events; however, only 27 (9%) of these events resulted in adverse health effects. Conversely, mixtures were released in only 49 events, and 13 (27%) of these events resulted in adverse health effects, indicating their greater potential for immediate harm.
The population groups most often adversely affected were employees (56%) and the
general public (34%) (Figure 4 (pdf) ). There were 19 first responder victims in fixed-facility events; of these, 7 were police officers, 11 were professional firefighters, and one was an unspecified responder (Figure 5 (pdf) ). There were 12 first responder victims in transportation-related events. Of these, 4 were firefighters, 5 were police officers, 3 were Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs).
The types of adverse health effects sustained by victims are shown in Figure 6 and Table 8. The victims sustained a total of 514 adverse health effects, and some victims had more than one adverse health effect. The most commonly reported adverse health effects at fixed-facility events were respiratory problems (38%), followed by headache (18%). In transportation-related events, trauma (33%) and respiratory problems (25%) were reported most frequently. Trauma was reported more frequently in transportation-related events (33%) than in fixed-facility events (1%). The trauma might have been caused by the sequence of events (for example, a motor vehicle accident) leading to the release of a hazardous substance, and not necessarily by exposure to the hazardous substance itself. However, it is important to include traumatic injuries in this surveillance system since they occurred as part of a dangerous situation in which hazardous substances might have been released.
The sex of 35% of the victims was known; of these, 64% were male. Among the
population groups, more of the emergency responders (93%) and employees (75%) were male. The age of 20% of the victims was known; of these, the median age was 36 years (range: 3-70 years). Most victims were treated on scene (39%) or treated at a hospital and released (38 %) (Figure 7).
Among victims, 44% of employees and 30% of first responders had not worn any form of personal protective equipment (PPE). For employee victims reported as wearing PPE, 24 (13%) wore gloves and one (0.5%) wore Level "C" protective equipment. Of the first responder victims, the most frequently worn PPE was firefighter "turnouts" (12 %) and level "A" protection. However, for 42% of employees and first responders, whether and what type of PPE worn was not known.
Of the seven persons who died during hazardous substances releases, there were 6 for whom age and sex were known: all 6 were males between the ages of 31 and 53. Four of the seven were employees, three of whom were killed during events at fixed facilities. There were three transportation events resulting in the deaths of one employee, one member of the general public, and one person in an unknown category. It is not known whether any of the dead had used personal protective equipment. None of the deaths were among responders. Human error was a factor in three fixed facility events, one fixed facility event involved equipment failure.
The three transportation events involved one motor vehicle accident, one airplane crash, and one unknown factor. All three transportation deaths were attributed to trauma, so it is not known whether the release of hazardous materials was involved in their deaths. The four fixed facility deaths occurred when three employees sustained chemical burns and one suffocated from carbon dioxide exposure.
EVACUATION
Evacuations were ordered in 121 (15%) events, and the evacuation status of 29 (4%)
events was unknown. Of known evacuations, 93 (77%) were of a building or the affected part of a building, 20 (17%) were of an area other than an affected building, and 8 (7%) were reported as having no criteria. The median number of persons evacuated was 80 (range: 1-1350), and the median length of evacuation was 2 hours (range: 1-24 hours). In 12 events, shelter-in-place was ordered by an official, and instructions regarding precautions to take during shelter-in-place were provided by an official in 10 (83%) of these events.
CONTINGENCY PLANS
The types of contingency or preparedness plans used during an event varied, the greatest proportion were "HAZMAT/Fire Dept SOP (Standard Operating Procedure)" (57%) and "company procedures" (35%). Law enforcement plans were increasing in number but were part of the "other" category during the time period covered by this report, and at these incidents law enforcement was usually accompanied by HAZMAT teams, so the incident would have been counted in the "HAZMAT/Fire Dept SOP" category.
CLANDESTINE METHAMPHETAMINE LABS IN OREGON
One of the most startling differences between this four-year period and the previous fiveyear period is the apparent increase during the past four years of HSEES incidents in Oregon involving illegal methamphetamine laboratories. We believe there has been an increase in the number of clandestine drug labs in Oregon over the past nine years, but for only two of those years has there been relatively consistent reporting of these labs and inclusion of any of them as incidents in the HSEES system. Previous to 1998, there were no reports in the Oregon HSEES system of spills of pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, chemicals that would be associated with a clandestine laboratory. During 1998 and 1999 there were 9 events listing either of these two chemicals as the hazardous substance spilled. It was not until 2000 that "methamphetamine chemicals" became a generic chemical name used in the HSEES system for substances released at these sites. During 2000 ? 2001, there were 68 methamphetamine lab incidents reported in the Oregon HSEES system, as indicated by 8 listing ephedrine/pseudoephedrine and 60 listing methamphetamine chemicals or methamphetamine chemicals, NOS as the substances released.
Department of Justice data indicate an increase in the number of lab seizures in Oregon from 67 in 1995 to 591 in 2001. We cannot be sure of the actual number of labs occurring, only those that are discovered. Whether a lab qualifies as a HSEES event depends on whether the lab is ?cooking? or ?hot?, or if it is apparent from the incident report that there has been a recent hazardous release into the environment. The labs fitting the HSEES definition are only a small percentage of those reported to us. The Health Services Clandestine Drug Lab Clean-up Program, the Oregon Emergency Response System, and the Office of State Fire Marshal have all provided reports to Oregon HSEES on methamphetamine labs. In 2001, we added newspaper accounts of hazardous materials releases to our reporting system. Even so, the number of
clandestine labs that are discovered is much greater than those reported to HSEES or qualifying as an HSEES event. For example, during 2001, Department of Justice data indicate there were 591 clandestine methamphetamine labs seized in Oregon. Only 55 were entered as qualified events into the HSEES database.
Of great concern are the many clandestine drug labs located in places where children are present, either children of the persons manufacturing or purchasing drugs or visiting. Clandestine drug labs have even been found in child-care facilities. Until recently, we could only obtain information on the numbers of children present at the scene in newspaper accounts. We are working with Child Protective Services, another branch of the Oregon Department of Human Services, to determine the number of children taken into protective custody, and how many are exposed to the lab chemicals and/or have suffered adverse effects of exposure. So far, data for 2001 indicate that 228 children were removed from clandestine methamphetamine labs, and 93 of these children were deemed exposed to methamphetamine or its precursors. As we have described in another report (described below under Uses of HSEES Data), children are at increased risk when exposed to hazardous chemicals. At clandestine methamphetamine laboratories, these exposures are often combined with poor nutrition and unsanitary conditions,
enhancing the potency of chemical exposures to produce adverse health effects in these children.
USES OF HSEES DATA
HSEES data from Oregon have been used by Oregon Health Services primarily to
educate affected groups and the public about hazardous substance releases in local areas, jurisdictions, among first responders, and employees at affected companies. HSEES data have also supported reports to professional societies as well as website reports to the public. Local reports have reviewed the incidents in particular counties. The most recent report (HazMat releases in Professional Services: What does this mean for children?) presented on the Oregon HSEES website concerns the potential for hazardous substance spills in "industry sectors" where children are found, such as schools, health care facilities, and day care centers.
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