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Executive Summary
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years after terrorists attacked the United States, the target sites have long
been cleared away and scraped clean. At Ground Zero, where the twin towers and
other buildings of the World Trade Center complex stood, builders are designing
memorials and the community has been working at the hard effort of recovery.
The Pentagon’s damaged Wedge was rebuilt within months.
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Satellite image of Manhattan, NY - Photo: Space Imaging |
In
the rush to clear away the destruction, agencies at all levels of government
had to coordinate their response efforts and make critical decisions quickly to
protect health and safety. Environmental health professionals of all kinds stepped
in swiftly, in some cases acting heroically and in others making critical
mistakes. There are no ruins left behind to mark the history of their actions,
except in the areas around Ground Zero where traces of toxic dust still remain.
But there are stories and memories—and continuing controversies.
In this report,
environment health professionals who were either directly involved in the
rescue efforts of September 11, and experienced these powerful events
firsthand, or are experts in the field of environmental health, occupational
health, or disaster response tell their stories and suggest ways that the
environmental health system can better be prepared to respond to large-scale
disasters. The report is based on first hand interviews, highlighting responses
by officials responsible for environmental health, occupational health and
disaster response, as well as accounts in the press and public documents.
This report draws
upon lessons learned from the terrorist attacks to equip environmental health
professionals to better understand and anticipate the health and safety needs
of communities who would respond to terrorist incidents in the future. NEHA
wanted to document the stories, experiences and knowledge of these
professionals in the hopes of passing on their lessons and understanding the
implications for future response.
The report’s
suggestions from experts recommend:
* Increased
preparedness, on the part of the environmental health personnel, and better coordination
of environmental health considerations in terrorism preparedness planning
* Improved
scientific understanding of environmental hazards and standard-setting to meet
these needs; better environmental health monitoring systems and tools in place;
and more environmental health training.
* Better
communication of hazards with the public, to increase public awareness of
environmental health, which can save lives and reduce the public health costs
associated with large-scale disasters like the World Trade Center and Pentagon
attacks.
Summary
of findings from this report:
- The scale of events on
9/11 overextended the abilities of health departments and even federal
environmental managers
- The damage to the
environment was hard to assess initially and hard to communicate, and in
the future hazards needed to be better assessed and communicated; in the
effort to make haste with waste cleanup, endangered workers and the public
- 12 “Lessons Learned,”
including: Call a hazard a hazard; respiratory protection and other worker
protection has to be insisted on from day one; be open in communication
with the public, even when there is scientific uncertainty; pay attention
to health registries and public concerns, as well as air monitors and
sampling; better training and preparedness; improve emergency protocols
anticipating toxic pollutants that need monitoring.