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. 2011 Sep;54(9):681-95.
doi: 10.1002/ajim.20997.

World Trade Center disaster: assessment of responder occupations, work locations, and job tasks

Susan R Woskie  1 , Hyun Kim, Alice Freund, Lori Stevenson, Bo Y Park, Sherry Baron, Robin Herbert, Micki Siegel de Hernández, Susan Teitelbaum, Rafael E de la Hoz, Juan P Wisnivesky, Phillip Landrigan
Affiliations

World Trade Center disaster: assessment of responder occupations, work locations, and job tasks

Susan R Woskie et al. Am J Ind Med. 2011 Sep.

Abstract

Background: To date there have been no comprehensive reports of the work performedby 9/11 World Trade Center responders.

Methods: 18,969 responders enrolled in the WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program were used to describe workers’ pre-9/11 occupations, WTC work activities and locations from September 11, 2001 to June 2002.

Results: The most common pre-9/11 occupation was protective services (47%); other common occupations included construction, telecommunications, transportation, and support services workers. 14% served as volunteers. Almost one-half began work on 9/11 and >80% reported working on or adjacent to the ‘‘pile’’ at Ground Zero. Initially,the most common activity was search and rescue but subsequently, the activities of most responders related to their pre-9/11 occupations. Other major activities included security; personnel support; buildings and grounds cleaning; and telecommunications repair.

Conclusions: The spatial, temporal, occupational, and task-related taxonomy reported here will aid the development of a job-exposure matrix, assist in assessment of disease risk, and improve planning and training for responders in future urban disasters.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure Statement: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 1.
World Trade Center response and cleanup workforce locations.
FIGURE 2.
FIGURE 2.
Number of workers at each location from September 2001 until June 2002.
FIGURE 3.
FIGURE 3.
Number of responders by activity and time period.
FIGURE 4.
FIGURE 4.
Responders’ activity by pre-9/11 occupation and time period.
FIGURE 5.
FIGURE 5.
Responders’ activity by location and time period.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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