Hazardous substances released during rail transit--18 states, 2002-2007.

In January 2007, two separate railroad incidents involving the unintentional release of hazardous substances occurred on consecutive days in Irvine and Brooks, two Kentucky communities approximately 125 miles apart. Although the incidents were not causally related, they both resulted in public health consequences (e.g., increased hospital visits, evacuations, and shelter-in-place orders (Kentucky Department for Public Health, unpublished data, 2007). Subsequently, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) reviewed data from the Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) system to update a previous analysis involving rail events. The HSEES system is used to collect and analyze data regarding the public health consequences associated with hazardous-substance release events, including those that occur during transportation. This report describes the two 2007 events in Kentucky (a non-HSEES state) and two other illustrative events in Minnesota in 2006 and in Utah in 2005, for which HSEES data were collected. In addition, this report summarizes all rail events reported to HSEES from 17 state health departments during 2002-2006.