OSHA Analysis Results

OSHA is supporting the Hurricane Sandy cleanup efforts to assure that employers provide workers with safety and health training and protection necessary to avoid injuries and illnesses. Every day since the storm, OSHA Compliance Officers have been, and continue to be, deployed to areas identified as the most severely damaged to identify and address worker safety and health. Debris sites have also been identified as an area with potential safety and health concerns.

Once OSHA began its response to Hurricane Sandy, a health risk assessment was implemented. This included an initial assessment of the areas affected by the storm, followed by real time direct read industrial hygiene monitoring. OSHA based its health risk assessment on historical knowledge from responses to hurricanes and other natural disasters, as well as the specific conditions and activities in areas impacted by Sandy. OSHA deployed seasoned Industrial Hygienists (IH) to conduct screening and sampling of various response activities, such as debris collection.

Site Characterization

As the response evolved, OSHA's IHs were supplemented by a specialized team to perform a site characterization of areas with flooded structures inundated by storm surge. Resources from OSHA's Health Response Team as well as from NIOSH were deployed in two rounds of Strike Teams and Task Forces to conduct this mission.

The storm surge associated with Hurricane Sandy was at record levels for many of the affected areas in Metro NY and NJ. Concerns have been raised regarding potential residual contamination left behind in structures, and worker exposure to same during cleanup. Direct readings of airborne chemicals as well as bulk samples of material left behind after flood water receded were the primary targets. The characterization of these sites served as the focus for OSHA to identify potential worker safety and health concerns during activities such as clean out, salvage, remediation, or other preparations for re-occupancy. There were three principal categories of contaminants of potential concerns (COPCs): inorganic materials (such as metals), organic materials (such as petroleum products), and biological material (such as sewage).

Sites known to be contaminated with hazardous materials (eg. oil spill at refinery) and those where the hazards are already identified were not sampled as part of this mission. For example, for industrial sites with chemical spills or releases, it is the employer's responsibility to characterize their employee exposures (or they may assume it exists and apply controls accordingly). It is incumbent upon employers to conduct an assessment of site specific conditions at every establishment prior to commencement of work, and to implement all necessary S&H controls in accordance with applicable OSHA standards and follow the hierarchy of controls.

This characterization is not intended for individual homeowners' private residences. OSHA's jurisdiction and expertise is worker safety & health. OSHA's site characterization mission focused on areas most severely affected by flooding, to determine the extent that flood waters may have spread contaminants.

The Health Response Team also shadowed crews working for the NYC Rapid Repair / FEMA "STEP" Program to characterize the potential worker exposures anticipated with these projects.

Field Interventions

OSHA staff is also conducting interventions related to safety and industrial hygiene hazards where employees may be exposed. They are evaluating operations for potential hazards, personal protective equipment being used and training being provided to workers. If concerns are identified they are documented and addressed in real time.

OSHA industrial hygienists continue to monitor worker exposure and look for additional potential contamination left behind in structures as well as in clean up and recovery process areas where workers may be exposed to additional health hazards. Some of these potential hazards include, but are not limited to, carbon monoxide, asbestos, methane, silica, noise, household chemicals and many other hazards that were present before the storm but now may be in a new location or compromised due to the storm. In some cases, the hazards may be introduced to the site as part of the cleanup itself, and these exposures also need to be controlled by the employer. Where possible, worker exposure is evaluated by using direct reading instruments. Elsewhere, full shift sampling in the breathing zone of workers is conducted and reported as actual time weighted averages (TWA) and are not adjusted for an 8 hour shift.

OSHA has taken Area Samples to evaluate zones prior to worker clean-up in order to provide information regarding potential contamination and PPE recommendations, in addition to sampling during the work activities themselves. OSHA is also utilizing sampling instrumentation capable of evaluating physical hazards such as noise.

Locations and Data will continue to be added to this web page as they become available. Data results found on the following tables is reported for the actual time sampled and has not been diluted to account for standards where the exposure limit is time-weighted (i.e actual results not 8hr TWA PELs or 15 minute STELs).