Based on an assessment of emergency personnel, the CDC recommends respiratory protection for emergency responders who are involved in train derailment responses.
Teams from the agencies surveyed the responders and found that 26 percent of them experienced headaches and upper respiratory symptoms during the response. Only 22 percent of them said they had worn respiratory protection during the incident, and 21 respondents sought a medical evaluation. Based on these findings, CDC is recommending that response agencies implement the Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance system for ongoing health monitoring of emergency responders who are involved in train derailment responses and “ensure that in future incidents, respiratory protection is used when exposure levels are unknown or above the established occupational exposure limits,” it states.
