Four Studies on World Trade Center Evacuations and Health Impacts Outlined at Academy Forum

NEW YORK CITY, April 28???In the wake of the World Trade Center disaster, four studies are underway that seek to enhance the future safety of tall-building occupants and track the long-term health of people who were near the 110-story Twin Towers when they tragically collapsed.

Lead investigators described the studies at a forum this month at The New York Academy of Medicine, attended by 75 people, including victims??? families and emergency workers. Researchers explained that they will rely in part on survivors and emergency response workers ??? the eyes and ears of what happened ??? to share their harrowing stories and help reconstruct a picture of evacuations and rescue attempts on Sept. 11, 2001. The hope is that survivors will provide first-hand knowledge about what worked and what didn???t, and shed light on changes needed to secure the safety of tall-building occupants.

Columbia University???s World Trade Center Evacuation Study will explore the behavior of people in Towers 1 and 2 on Sept. 11. ???Were they more inclined to use a certain staircase? Had a manager led them that way? Were they more inclined to go up or go down???? said Robyn Gershon, Ph.D., principal investigator of the study, outlining some of the questions to be asked. Gershon is a researcher in Columbia???s Mailman School of Public Health, which co-sponsored the Academy???s April 8 forum. The Columbia study aims to improve high-rise safety by identifying factors???such as workers??? knowledge of stairwell exit locations, and their extent of pre-event preparedness training??? that affected evacuation and ultimately determined who survived. Four psychologists will interview about 200 people who fled the buildings that day. (To register for the study, call 212.305.1186 or email wtc-evacuation@columbia.edu ).

The World Trade Center Public Safety Study, led by the federal National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), aims to learn why and how World Trade Center buildings 1, 2 and 7 collapsed. Investigators will examine the structural failure and subsequent collapse of the buildings, focusing on the construction style, materials used, and technical conditions that contributed to the fire and subsequent collapse. The NIST study will explain fatalities by location. Needed improvements to design, construction, building and fire codes, and emergency response procedures will be identified, said NIST Project Leader Jason Averill. ???These studies will result in safer buildings,??? Averill said. Nearly 1,600 people will be interviewed in person and by phone, hopefully including those who were near the floors of impact, those stuck in elevators, rescue workers, floor wardens, and family members who???d spoken to victims moments before the Towers collapsed. ???This allows the respondent to essentially tell his story and get it all out on the table,??? Averill said. Interviews are set to take place from June through November. (To register for the study, email wtc@nist.gov or visit http://wtc.nist.gov).

Sally Regenhard, who lost her 28-year-old firefighter son, Christian, in the WTC rescue effort, is among those who successfully fought for the federal investigation. Regenhard is a founder and co-chairperson of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign, comprised of hundreds of relatives of Sept. 11 victims. ???We have a long way to go,??? she told those at the forum. ???We still have fire department radios that essentially do not work in high-rise buildings.???

In a third WTC-related study, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is investigating why certain people were unable to evacuate the North Tower below the 93rd floor, the lower part of the airplane impact zone. What factors led to the safe evacuation of some north tower occupants but not others? That will be the specific line of inquiry, said Susan Wilt, Ph.D., Assistant Health Commissioner. Researchers hope to interview at least two survivors each of 120 victims who worked below the 93rd floor, to learn as much as possible about victims??? movements, emotional state, and physical condition. Wilt said the study should uncover whether the risk was greater for people with underlying medical conditions, people with disabilities, those who stayed behind to help others evacuate, fire warders or supervisors, and people who were not at the WTC during the 1993 bombing. This study will be in collaboration with researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (To participate in the study, call 212.788.4471 or email swilt@health.nyc.com).

The city Health Department is also working to create a World Trade Center Registry, a confidential database of people exposed to smoke, dust and debris during the WTC disaster and subsequent site cleanup. Up to 200,000 people will be interviewed by phone or in person, said principal investigator Dr. Robert Brackbill, who is collaborating with the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Researchers will collect information on the short- and long-term physical and mental health of those exposed to WTC debris and/or those who witnessed the WTC disaster from nearby. Participants will be re-contacted periodically over the years for follow-up questions about their health status. The information will be used to understand how the disaster affected the health of people exposed at different levels of intensity, and to track patterns of illness and recovery. ???We felt it very important to look at the impact on health over time,??? Brackbill explained.

Those eligible to enroll are: occupants of non-residential buildings and passers-by south of Chambers Street on Sept. 11 (an estimated 300,000 people, Brackbill said); those who lived or went to school south of Canal Street that day (approximately 72,000 people); and rescue, recovery and construction workers at the WTC site, the Staten Island Landfill, and on barges, between Sept. 11, 2001 and June 30, 2002 (an estimated 25,000 people). Interviews are expected to begin by July. (Visit http://www.nyc.gov/health/wtcregistry for updates).

Wilton Sexer, the father of the late Jason Sexer, who was working on the 105th floor of Tower 1 when it collapsed, cautioned researchers not to over-interview the same pool of family members and survivors. Sexer said that he has participated in 15 research interviews already. While he did not mind, others might suffer severe stress, he said. ???They might be sick and tired of answering questions about this,??? he said.

Columbia University???s Gershon reassured him that all participants in her study will be asked whether they???d like to take part in other ongoing Sept. 11-related research. If they say no, their names will not be passed along to colleagues. ???We certainly don???t want to injure them any further,??? Gershon said.

Posted on April 29, 2003

 Print   Subscribe

Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org

Press Release Archive