{"doi":"10.1017/dmp.2021.266","title":"The Occupational Health Effects of Responding to a Natural Gas Pipeline Explosion Among Emergency First Responders – Lincoln County, Kentucky, 2019","abstract":"OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to assess occupational health effects 1 month after responding to a natural gas pipeline explosion. METHODS: First responders to a pipeline explosion in Kentucky were interviewed about pre- and post-response health symptoms, post-response health care, and physical exertion and personal protective equipment (PPE) use during the response. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between several risk factors and development of post-response symptoms. RESULTS: Among 173 first responders involved, 105 (firefighters [58%], emergency medical services [19%], law enforcement [10%], and others [12%]) were interviewed. Half (53%) reported at least 1 new or worsening symptom, including upper respiratory symptoms (39%), headache (18%), eye irritation (17%), and lower respiratory symptoms (16%). The majority (79%) of symptomatic responders did not seek post-response care. Compared with light-exertion responders, hard-exertion responders (48%) had significantly greater odds of upper respiratory symptoms (aOR: 2.99, 95% CI: 1.25-7.50). Forty-four percent of responders and 77% of non-firefighter responders reported not using any PPE. CONCLUSIONS: Upper respiratory symptoms were common among first responders of a natural gas pipeline explosion and associated with hard-exertion activity. Emergency managers should ensure responders are trained in, equipped with, and properly use PPE during these incidents and encourage responders to seek post-response health care when needed.","journal":"Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness","year":2021,"id":202790,"datarank":0.29188652235829704,"base_score":1.9459101490553132,"endowment":1.9459101490553132,"self_citation_contribution":0.29188652235829704,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.29188652235829704,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":6,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9527,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":782964,"name":"Esther A. Kukielka","orcid":"0000-0002-8655-3778","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":493911,"name":"Erin F. Blau","orcid":"0000-0002-8967-7856","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":415900,"name":"Lindsay K. Tompkins","orcid":"0000-0001-9498-0588","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":783397,"name":"K. Leann Bing","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":783398,"name":"Charles Edge","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":782965,"name":"Rebecca Hardin","orcid":"0000-0002-9047-5821","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":783399,"name":"Diane Miller","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":782966,"name":"James R. House","orcid":"0000-0003-4102-4255","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":782967,"name":"Tegan K. Boehmer","orcid":"0000-0002-3328-9555","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":229931,"name":"Andrea Winquist","orcid":null,"position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":782968,"name":"Maureen F. Orr","orcid":"0000-0001-7612-5916","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":389640,"name":"Renée Funk","orcid":null,"position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":494795,"name":"Doug Thoroughman","orcid":null,"position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":782963,"name":"David Bui","orcid":"0000-0003-0861-0850","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":28,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:51:10.291262Z","pmid":"34544524","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}