13 - Workplace disaster preparedness and response

Summary

Introduction

In the United States and countries throughout the world, natural and human-made disasters have affected the workplace, resulting in extensive psychological, behavioral, and health consequences for workers, families, and communities (Ursano et al., 2006). Natural disasters such as the Kobe earthquake, the Asian Tsunami, and Hurricane Katrina destroyed businesses, large and small, and disrupted the livelihood, health, and social supports of large populations. Human made disasters resulting in similar consequences range from industrial accidents, the worst occurring in 1984 in Bhopal, India, claiming some 20 000 lives due to lethal gas exposure (Dhara & Dhara, 2002), to violent acts of disgruntled employees, to the effects of terrorism and bioterrorism. In some instances, the workplace has been the intentional target of traumatic events, such as the US Kenya embassy bombing, the Oklahoma City bombing, the events of September 11 and the anthrax attacks on the United States Postal Service (Stith Butler et al., 2003; Ursano et al., 2003; Vineburgh et al., 2005a, 2005b, 2005c). Disasters also affect people on their way to work, as happened in the subway sarin gas attacks in Tokyo and the transportation terror bombings in Madrid (Miguel-Tobal et al., 2006) and London (Rubin et al., 2005).

Work is a central organizing factor in most lives, providing economic survival, a sense of identity, social connectedness, and purpose (Levinson, 1965; McLean, 1973).