Hazardous Substance Emergency Events Surveillance 1999
During the years 1998 and 1999, a total of 731 events occurred in Minnesota, resulting in 88 evacuations and 128 injured people. For the nine urban counties (Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Olmsted, Ramsey, St. Louis, Scott and Washington), there were 355 events, 375 chemicals released, 82 victims, and 56 evacuations. For the 78 primarily agricultural counties, there were 376 events, 442 chemicals released, 46 victims, and 32 evacuations. The table below provides the number hazardous material releases in State of Minnesota County and the average number of events, injuries, evacuations, and chemicals released per event for urban counties and primarily agricultural counties.
The HSEES program collects data on acute,
emergency hazardous material releases. The program does not include petroleum products such as
diesel fuel or propane, nor does
the program include releases permitted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Chronic releases,
such as a several-month leak from
an acid holding tank, are also excluded from the
program.
The Minnesota Department of Health
(MDH) receives reports of hazardous material releases from several sources, including the Minnesota
Duty Officer, the United States
Coast Guard's National Response Center, and other state agencies. Upon receipt of this initial report,
the MDH calls the responsible party
and obtains information to complete an extensive questionnaire.
Information gathered includes the number
of people who were evacuated, injured, or decontaminated; the identity of the materials spilled,
and how much was spilled. Data on long-term health effects from
chemical exposures are not collected. The MDH follow-up procedure has the advantage of providing more
complete and accurate information
than may have been available at the time of original notification of the release.
HSEES data identify the chemicals that were released, the day of the week on which the release occurred, the time of day at which the release occurred, and list the number of injuries by chemical and the number of evacuations by chemical. Maps can be generated showing the locations of spills with respect to municipalities; rivers and lakes; and roads.
For the purpose of the HSEES
program, a person is considered injured if that person develops symptoms within 24 hours of exposure
to a hazardous substance. Symptoms
range from minor ailments, such as throat irritation, to death.
The program does not differentiate
between injuries caused directly by exposure to hazardous materials and injuries caused indirectly by
the release, such as burns from a
fire caused by the hazardous materials.
HSEES data can be used in emergency
management planning and training. A region's agricultural and industrial activities determine the
types of hazardous material
releases which are likely to occur within that region. Thus,
regional differences require
different strategies for planning and training. Comparisons
can be made between a rural county and
other rural counties, and between an urban county and other urban counties.
During the years 1998 and 1999, a
total of 731 events occurred in Minnesota,resulting in 88 evacuations and 128 injured people. For the
nine urban counties there were 375
events, 427 chemicals released, 91 victims, and 61 evacuations. For the 78 primarily agricultural
counties, there were 356 events, 390 chemicals released, 37 victims, and 27 evacuations. The table
below compares the average number
of events, injuries, evacuations, and chemicals released per event in the urban counties with
averages from primarily agricultural counties.
| AREA | Events | Injuries | Evacuations | Chemical/Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average for 9 Urban Countiesa | 41.7b | 10.1b | 6.8b | 1.1b |
| Average for 78 Agricultural Countiesc | 4.6b | 0.5b | 0.3b | 1.1b |
| Minnesota | 731< | 128 | 88 | 1 |
aUrban counties: Anoka, Carver,
Dakota, Hennepin, Olmsted, Ramsey, St. Louis, Scott, and Washington
Counties
bMean
cCounties other than urban counties
The total number of hazardous material
releases, the number of injuries and forced evacuations, and the total
number of chemicals released, by county, between January 1, 1998
through December 31, 1999 are indicated in the table
above.
For further information, please contact us.
