Donald Elisburg, John Moran
Executive Summary:The attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and the subsequent magnitude of the destruction and loss of life at the World Trade Center Complex (WTC) created an emergency response, rescue, and recovery effort of enormous proportions.New York City, State, and many Federal disaster response organizations, in addition to thousands of volunteers and other support organizations, quickly responded, including the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)-Worker Education and Training Program (WETP). Several of the WETP grantees were among those support organizations responding for the purpose of providing quick-response training to workers, many from organizations with which the grantees are affiliated. In order to provide a perspective at the WETP Administrator level, a short-term technical assistance and coordination task order was executed with the authors, one of whom was dispatched to the WTC disaster site over the period from September 22 through September 27, 2001.The purpose of the short-term task order was four fold: (1) assist in coordination of NIEHS-WETP grantee activities at the WTC Site, (2) assess the current safety and health status of response personnel working at the WTC Site, (3) evaluate the current Site safety and health plans or programs and related aspects such as exposure monitoring with respect to worker protections, and (4) perform a preliminary training needs assessment specific to the WTC Site activities.With respect to the coordination task, both the International Association of Fire Fighters and the Operating Engineers National HAZMAT Program had launched an immediate and comprehensive response. As events unfolded, the authors and several other grantee organizations mobilized response resources, including coordination with the New York City Building and Construction Trades Council and the Construction Employers Association, Bechtel Corporation, the contractor responsible for developing the over-all WTC Disaster Site Safety and Health Plan, and other parties with respect to the training programs that could be promptly provided by the grantee organizations.Assessment of the current safety and health status at the Site was based upon on-site observations and analysis of the WTC Disaster Site Worker Injury and Illness Surveillance Update Reports issued by the City Health Department. Evaluation of the current Site safety and health plans and programs and related aspects was not possible, as none were apparently applicable to the construction workforce. The training needs assessment task, therefore, was conducted solely on the basis of safety and health status observations and analysis of the injury and illness surveillance reports. Training recommendations, in broad terms, are provided in this report. Training needs assessments keyed to specific construction crafts or trades, an important dimension to aid in better targeting of training response and capacity assessments by the grantees, was not possible as the prime clean-up, demolition, and removal contractor's safety and health plans and related documents have not yet been released.It became very apparent early in the WTC Site visit that the WTC Site was operating in a search and rescue mode being undertaken by NYC Fire and Police personnel and Federal personnel such as the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Teams in accordance with the Federal Response Plan (FRP). In addition, massive utilization of contractor-provided skilled construction support personnel to aid in the rescue and recovery effort was evident. As this phase continued past the second week, there was no clear termination of the rescue and recovery effort owing, no doubt, to several factors such as the NYC Fire Department bearing responsibility for collapsed buildings and the fact that fires continued to burn in the Site debris pile. This situation created a very complex safety and health setting in which there was confusion as to which occupational safety and health standards were applicable, whether enforcement agencies indeed had enforcement jurisdiction, and at what point in time the WTC Disaster Site Safety and Health Plan would become effective and operative. Examples of the approaches to worker safety and health protection during this period were the Operating Engineers National HAZMAT Program on-site support operation providing several thousand respirators and cartridges to operators (Police, FEMA Team members, among others), the OSHA Technical Support operation providing over 4000 respirators and conducting air monitoring as a technical support activity likely under provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Support Annex to the NRP, and the Carpenters Union Training Academy providing respirators and fit testing. Of importance, it must be noted that the determination that respiratory protection is required, and providing of such devices when required, is the responsibility of the worker's employer.What has emerged in this massive disaster and the protracted and complex response is the fact that rescue, recovery, and other activities have occurred in a scenario never anticipated by the safety and health legislation or the subsequent standards/regulations.The injury and illness reports for the initial weeks of the search and rescue activity were at unacceptable levels. Moreover, the exposure data, as well as the potential for serious exposure to toxic materials (including asbestos) among the construction response workers, raises significant concerns. Accordingly, how to respond to such situations demands serious attention in the context of worker protection and training needs.