Premium
The World Trade Center Bombing: Injury Prevention Strategies for High‐rise Building Fires
Author(s) -
QUENEMOEN LYNN E.,
DAVIS YVETTE M.,
MALILAY JOSEPHINE,
SINKS THOMAS,
NOJI ERIC K.,
KLITZMAN SUSAN
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.1996.tb00522.x
Subject(s) - crowds , poison control , engineering , aeronautics , lift (data mining) , injury prevention , medical emergency , forensic engineering , transport engineering , computer security , medicine , computer science , data mining
The WTC disaster provided an opportunity to look for ways to prevent morbidity among occupants of high‐rise buildings during fires. This paper first describes the overall morbidity resulting from the explosion and fire, and second, presents the results of a case‐control study carried out to identify risk factors for smoke‐related morbidity. The main ones include: increased age, presence of a pre‐existing cardio‐pulmonary condition, entrapment in a lift and prolonged evacuation time. Study results point to the importance of the following safety systems during high‐rise building fires: smoke‐control systems with separate emergency power sources; lift‐cars, lift‐car position‐monitoring systems, and lift‐car communication systems with separate emergency power sources; two‐way emergency communication systems on all floors and in stairwells; stairwells with emergency lighting and designed for the rapid egress of crowds; evacuation systems/equipment to assist in the evacuation of vulnerable people (elderly, infirm). Also important are evacuation plans that include regularly scheduled safety training and evacuation drills.