Climate Change and Toxic Hazards: After the Storm
1:00 pm US Eastern Time
Slides & Resources
Slides
Thomas Estabrook: After the Storm: Protecting the Health and Safety of Clean-Up Workers, Volunteers, and Residents
Richard Rabin: Post-disaster Clean-up: Hurricane Harvey
Resources
Richard Rabin: Video from National Council for Occupational Safety and Health
Additional resources (added October 2022):
National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) tools: National Clearinghouse for Worker Safety and Health Training: https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/
NIEHS fact sheet: Urban Flooding: Hazards and Tips for Prevention: https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/public/hasl_get_blob.cfm?ID=13761
NIEHS training tools on hurricanes, mold, debris removal, and urban flooding: https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/index.cfm?id=2472 (English, Spanish, and Vietnamese)
NIEHS – link to order hard-copy booklets: https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/booklets/index.cfm
CDC/NIOSH: Storm, Flood, and Hurricane response (focus on protective equipment): https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/emres/pe-workers.html
CDC guidance for supervisors at disaster rescue sites: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/emres/emhaz.html
OSHA e-Matrix on hurricane response (detailed guidance on safety for specific work activities): https://www.osha.gov/etools/hurricane
This webinar is part of a series organized by CHE and the Boston University Superfund Research Program (BUSRP). Learn more about the CHE-BUSRP Partnership.
This is the final webinar in a 3-part series on climate change, toxic hazards, and how to prepare to protect public health before, during, and after a superstorm or flood. Speakers in this webinar addressed the range of issues communities face after a storm, with a focus on preventing exposures to toxic substances that have been unleashed by the flood into the air, water, and soil.
What’s the best cleanup process after a major storm or flooding event? What’s the best way to protect people during that process? How do people deal with home and business contamination? What are the roles of individuals, agencies, businesses, governments? How do we deal with aging infrastructure? If there are existing hazardous waste sites in the region, how can they be contained in the aftermath? This webinar featured Dr. Tom Estabrook, Project Director of The New England Consortium, an NIEHS-funded worker health and safety training project based at University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Richard Rabin, a volunteer with MassCOSH (Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health) for over 30 years and former director of the Occupational Lead Poisoning Registry at the Massachusetts Department of Labor for over 20 years.
Featured Speakers
Thomas Estabrook, PhD, is Project Director of The New England Consortium, an NIEHS-funded worker health and safety training project based at University of Massachusetts Lowell. He was a worker health educator for 21 years at TNEC before becoming Project Director in January of 2018.
He is also adjunct professor in the Department of Public Health at UMass Lowell. He has a Ph.D. in geography from Clark University.
Richard Rabin is an OSHA-authorized trainer at MassCOSH, leading “OSHA 10 in construction” trainings in both Spanish and English for workers in a range of industries. Mr. Rabin holds Master of Science and Master of Arts degrees.
Mr. Rabin directed the Occupational Lead Poisoning Registry at the Massachusetts Department of Labor for over 20 years, and has published several articles on both child and adult lead poisoning.
This webinar will be moderated by Dr. Wendy Heiger-Bernays, Clinical Professor of Environmental Health at the Boston University School of Public Health.
This webinar lasted for 50 minutes and was recorded for our call and webinar archive.
