The Forgotten Disaster Victim: Reducing Responder Injury

Abstract

First responders, including firefighters, police officers, emergency medical service workers, and disaster clean-up teams, are often the forgotten victims of disaster response and recovery, suffering higher injury and illness rates than other population groups. Hampered by limited data collection from past disasters and few existing disaster response injury studies, this thesis examined disaster response case studies to illuminate responder injury and illness issues. Recommendations to reduce injuries and improve responder safety include better training before a disaster, proper use of personnel protective equipment, and strict enforcement of existing policies, rules, and laws at the scene of a disaster.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2017
Accession Number
AD1046184

Entities

People

  • Anthony J. Wright

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Disasters
  • Emergencies
  • Emergency Response
  • Employment
  • Environmental Health
  • First Responders
  • Health Services
  • Hygiene
  • Medical Personnel
  • Occupational Safety And Health
  • Personnel Management
  • Protective Equipment
  • Public Health
  • Training
  • United States
  • Wounds And Injuries

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Aviation Safety Risk Assessment.
  • Emergency Management and Homeland Security.