page_title: Emergency management
section_title: Hazardous material release
hierarchical_section_title: Emergency management / Health and safety of workers / Chemical exposures / Hazardous material release
caption_attribution_description: English: Classification of hazardous material releases associated with natural disasters.
context_page_description: Emergency management is the organization and management of the resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies. The aim is to reduce the harmful effects of all hazards, including disasters.
  The World Health Organization defines an emergency as the state in which normal procedures are interrupted, and immediate measures need to be taken to prevent it from becoming a disaster, which is even harder to recover from. Disaster management is a related term but should not be equated to emergency management.
context_section_description: Chemicals can pose a risk to human health when exposed to humans at certain quantities. After a natural disaster, certain chemicals can become more prominent in the environment. These hazardous materials can be released directly or indirectly. Chemical hazards directly released after a natural disaster often occur at the same time as the event, impeding planned actions for mitigation. For example, airborne magnesium, chloride, phosphorus, and ammonia can be generated by droughts; dioxins can be produced by forest fires; and silica can be emitted by forest fires. Indirect release of hazardous chemicals can be intentionally released or unintentionally released. An example of intentional release is insecticides used after a flood or chlorine treatment of water after a flood. The chemical released is often toxic and serves no beneficial purpose when released to the environment. These chemicals can be controlled through engineering to minimize their release when a natural disaster strikes; for example, agrochemicals from inundated storehouses or manufacturing facilities poisoning the floodwaters or asbestos fibers released from a building collapse during a hurricane. The flowchart to the right has been adopted from research performed by Stacy Young et al.
  Exposure limits
  Below are TLV-TWA, PEL, and IDLH values for common chemicals workers are exposed to after a natural disaster.
  Direct release
  Magnesium
  Phosphorus
  Ammonia
  Silica
  Intentional release
  Insecticides
  Chlorine dioxide
  Unintentional release
  Crude oil components
  Benzene, N-hexane, hydrogen sulfide, cumene, ethylbenzene, naphthalene, toluene, xylenes, PCBs, agrochemicals
  Asbestos
  Exposure routes
  When a toxicant is prominent in an environment after a natural disaster, it is important to determine the route of exposure to worker safety for the disaster management workers. The three components are source of exposure, pathway of the chemical, and receptor. Questions to ask when dealing with a chemical source are the material itself, how it is used, how much is used, how often the chemical is used, its chemical properties, and its physical processes–the physical state of the chemical is important to identify. If indoors, room ventilation and the volume of the room need to be noted to mitigate health defects from the chemical. Finally, to ensure worker safety, routes of entry for the chemical and relevant personal protective equipment to be worn should be determined.
  Respirators
  The CDC warns “If you need to collect belongings or do basic clean up in your previously flooded home, you do not usually need to use a respirator (a mask worn to prevent breathing in harmful substances)”. A respirator should be worn when performing an operation in an enclosed environment such as a house that creates ample amounts of dust. These activities could include sweeping dust, using power saws and equipment, or cleaning up mold. The CDC says to “limit your contact with the dust as much as possible. Use wet mops or vacuums with HEPA filters instead of dry sweeping and lastly wear a respirator that protects against dust in the air. A respirator that is approved by the CDC/NIOSH is the N95 respirator and can be a good personal protective equipment to protect from dust and mold in the air from the associated natural disaster".
caption: Classification of hazardous material releases associated with natural disasters
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