Committee on Education and Labor : U.S. House of Representatives

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Labor Committee Explores Lessons Learned After Failure to Protect World Trade Center Rescue Workers
Chairman says future hearings on responses to other national disasters likely, including Katrina

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

 

WASHINGTON, DC -- Witnesses told a House committee today that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration failed to protect the long-term health of rescue workers. They said a coherent national strategy is needed to protect workers in future emergencies.

“This is an extremely important subject, not just because thousands of 9/11 responders continue to suffer from the aftermath of that tragic event,” said Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. “We need to make sure that first responders know that we will do everything we can to protect them during a national catastrophe like we faced as a result of terrorism six years ago and as a result of a hurricane two years ago.”

Thousands of rescue and recovery personnel who worked at or near Ground Zero have been treated for a number of respiratory ailments, many of them severe.

“On September 11, 2001, I was called by the Custodians Union to see if I was willing to leave my regular school assignment…and work to support the rescue and recovery efforts at and near the World Trade Center site starting the next day,” said Freddy Cordero, a former New York City Board of Education worker. “As a lifelong citizen of New York, I wanted to serve my city and my country however I could.”

As a result of his exposure to the toxic air during his time near Ground Zero, Cordero was diagnosed in 2003 with scarring of the lungs, asthma, post-nasal drip, narrowing of the esophagus, reflux disease and other respiratory ailments.

“In the days, weeks, and months that followed September 11, 2001, more than 50,000 hard-working Americans from across the United States responded selflessly,” said Dr. Philip Landrigan, who oversees the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. “Six years following the attacks on the World Trade Center, thousands of the brave men and women who stood up for America and who worked on rescue, recovery and clean up at Ground Zero are still suffering. Respiratory illness, psychological distress and financial devastation have become a new way of life.”

While thousands of rescue and recovery workers responded to the terrorist attack in New York, OSHA did not enforce health and safety procedures, some on the panel told the committee.

“The lack of more comprehensive OSHA involvement at the World Trade Center site-- including enforcement--contributed to the development of these health problems,” said Dr. James Melius, the administrator of New York State Laborers’ Health and Safety Trust Fund. “We need a process that ensures OSHA involvement, including enforcement, starting with the early response to an incident similar to the WTC.”

Witnesses also discussed strategies to prevent similar outbreaks of debilitating conditions among workers in future national emergencies.

 “To protect emergency workers at any major disaster, there must be an incident safety management structure in place that can make difficult safety decisions and has the equipment, capabilities, and authority needed to implement and enforce them effectively,” said Brian Jackson, Ph.D., associate director of RAND Corporation’s homeland security program. “This did not happen at the World Trade Center response for a number of reasons, and, as a result, the response workers there were left unprotected from many of the risks at the site.”

New York City Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) also participated in the hearing.

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