Assessing Respiratory Hazards and Risks During Disasters

Expert Dennis Terpin discusses the various respiratory issues involved in disaster response and the key components of a respiratory protection program in disaster scenarios.

  • By David Kopf
  • Jul 16, 2024

Various kinds of disasters pose a wide spectrum of respiratory hazards for first responders, so how can they be kept safe? Dennis Terpin, Ph.D., a retired senior industrial hygienist/hospital safety officer and emergency manager at The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) joins the SafetyPod to discuss key topics related to this issue, such as the elements of hazard and risk assessment for those types of disasters.

Terpin also examines how health and safety planning vary in terms of the type of disaster and how this impacts respiratory safety; the key components of a respiratory protection program in disaster scenarios; and how the RAIN model applies to protecting responders’ from respiratory hazards during disaster response.

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Sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association 

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About the Author

David Kopf is the publisher and executive editor of Occupational Health & Safety magazine.

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