A Literature Review on Occupational Safety and Health Risks
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European Agency for Safety and Health at Work Emergency Services: A Literature Review on Occupational Safety and Health Risks Edited by: Malgorzata Milczarek, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) Writen by the following members of the TC OSH: Angelika Hauke, Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance (IFA), Task Leader. Paraskevi Georgiadou, Dimitra Pinotsi, Hellenic Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (ELINYAE) Hannu Kallio, Sirpa Lusa, Johanna Malmelin, Anne Punakallio, Rauno Pääkkönen, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) Sylvie de Meyer, Prevent (Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Belgium) Georgiana Ioana Nicolescu, National Institute for Research and Development on Occupational Safety Alexandru Darabont (INCDPM) Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union. Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) Certain mobile telephone operators do not allow access to 00 800 numbers or these calls may be billed. A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu). Cover photo by Ivan Castelli - (EU-OSHA Photo Competition) Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2011 ISBN 978-92-9191-668-9 doi 10.2802/54768 © European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), 2011 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Table of Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 7 2. Emergency forces........................................................................................................................ 9 2.1. Population of emergency workers ............................................................................................. 9 2.1.1. Fire-fighters....................................................................................................................... 9 2.1.2. Emergency medical service............................................................................................ 10 2.1.3. Police .............................................................................................................................. 13 2.1.4. Body handlers ................................................................................................................. 14 2.1.5. Providers of psychological first aid ................................................................................. 14 2.1.6. Special Forces for disaster control ................................................................................. 14 2.1.7. Gender aspects............................................................................................................... 14 2.2. Emergencies and disasters ..................................................................................................... 15 2.2.1. Natural disasters ............................................................................................................. 15 2.2.2. Industrial accidents ......................................................................................................... 16 2.2.3. Transport accidents ........................................................................................................ 17 2.2.4. Terrorist and criminal attacks.......................................................................................... 20 2.2.5. Massive public events..................................................................................................... 20 3. Occupational health and safety risks for emergency workers ................................................... 23 3.1. Physical overstrain .................................................................................................................. 23 3.2. Emotional overstrain................................................................................................................ 24 3.3. OSH risks specific to natural disasters.................................................................................... 25 3.4. OSH risks specific to man-made disasters.............................................................................. 26 3.5. Poor management of resources .............................................................................................. 29 4. Health and safety outcomes ......................................................................................................31 4.1. Fatalities .................................................................................................................................. 31 4.2. Violence at work ...................................................................................................................... 32 4.3. Accidents and injuries.............................................................................................................. 33 4.4. Musculoskeletal disorders .......................................................................................................36 4.5. Negative health outcomes for mental health ........................................................................... 36 4.6. Negative health outcomes of radioactive exposure................................................................. 39 4.7. Negative health outcomes related to chemical risks ............................................................... 40 4.8. Negative health outcomes related to biological risks .............................................................. 43 4.9. Early retirement ....................................................................................................................... 43 5. Preventive measures ................................................................................................................. 45 5.1. International communication and coordination........................................................................ 45 5.2. Emergency policies ................................................................................................................. 45 5.3. Organisational measures: Safety and health management .................................................... 46 5.3.1. Risk assessment............................................................................................................. 48 5.3.2. Training ........................................................................................................................... 49 EU-OSHA – European Agency for Safety and Health at Work 1 Emergency services: a literature review on Occupational Safety and Health Risks 5.3.3. Vaccination......................................................................................................................49 5.3.4. Personal Protective Equipment.......................................................................................49 5.3.5. Ergonomic equipment .....................................................................................................51 5.3.6. Primary and secondary prevention of mental health problems.......................................52 5.3.7. Long-term-care and health surveillance..........................................................................54 6. Conclusions................................................................................................................................55 7. References .................................................................................................................................57 List of figures and tables Table 1: Emergency workers – main groups and areas of activities .................................................. 21 Table 2: Injury statistics for fire and emergency workers..................................................................... 35 Tabel 3: Example of possible protective measures against radioactive exposure (source: IAEA, 2006) .............................................................................................................. 48 2 EU-OSHA – European Agency for Safety and Health at Work Emergency services: a literature review on Occupational Safety and Health Risks Executive Summary Emergency workers comprise large professional groups ranging from career and volunteer fire- fighters, police officers, emergency medical staff (paramedics, emergency medical technicians, doctors and nurses) to psychologists. In major disasters, rescue workers, technicians from large relief organisations, additional medical staff, military personnel, antiterrorist forces, body handlers, clean-up workers, construction workers, and numerous volunteers are involved. Depending on the emergency/disaster site, emergency workers need specialisation for instance in water rescue, mountain rescue or rescue from heights. Current environmental, economic, and political developments and trend data all suggest an increase in the severity and frequency of disasters in the future. Phenomena that support this assumption include increased energy use, progressive global warming, climate change and pollution, population growth, dispersal of industrialisation around the globe, expansion of transportation facilities, and the growing spread of terrorism. The growing issue of better protection for emergency workers against the occupational safety and health (OSH) risks has been emphasised as a priority