New York hazardous substances emergency events surveillance: learning from hazardous substances releases to improve safety

Human error and time of occurrence in hazardous material events in mining and manufacturing

“…It is also lower than the New York HSEES analysis indicating that 33% of the chemical release incidents across all industries, not just those in manufacturing and mining, were attributable to human error [11]. Another HSEES analysis of hazardous ammonia releases, which lead to evacuation and injury more often than releases of other chemicals, found that 12% involved human error [12].…”

“…Human error-related events in the mining and manufacturing industries resulted in almost four times as many events with victims and almost three times as many events with evacuations as events in the mining and manufacturing industries where human error was not a contributing factor (10.3% versus 2.7% and 11.8% versus 4.5%, respectively). An analysis of HSEES events in New York similarly found that when human error was a contributing factor, a larger percentage of the events involved injury (24% when human error was involved versus 6% when equipment failure was involved) [11]. In a Canadian study, employee industrial injuries occurred as a result of human error in 55% of critical occupational incidents, as opposed to 22% of incidents involving equipment failures and 26% involving structural failures [6].…”

The effects of seasonal variation on hazardous chemical releases

“…Human exposure to hazardous substances may be manifested as minor respiratory irritation and gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or abdominal pain [4,5]. The intoxication may lead to even more serious problems, including cancer, and death [6][7][8][9].…”

“…The intoxication may lead to even more serious problems, including cancer, and death [6][7][8][9]. Among the identified risk factors involved in HCRs, Welles et al listed equipment failure, power failure, human error, improper dumping, filling or mixing, fire, motor vehicle accident, and deliberate or illegal action [5]. Equipment failure was the main factor resulting in HCR events [10,5,11].…”

“…Among the identified risk factors involved in HCRs, Welles et al listed equipment failure, power failure, human error, improper dumping, filling or mixing, fire, motor vehicle accident, and deliberate or illegal action [5]. Equipment failure was the main factor resulting in HCR events [10,5,11]. Severe weather has potential negative effects on power systems and equipments of industrial facilities, and therefore adverse weather conditions such as storms, lightning, flooding, and tornados have played important roles in many past HCRs [2].…”