Dictionary for HSEES Public Use Data 1996-2001 This is the data dictionary for the public use dataset of ATSDR's Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance System (HSEES). *****When printing this document it is recommended that the layout orientation be changed to landscape.***** This document provides users with information for using the HSEES public use dataset. The data are related to events that occurred in the 17 HSEES states from 1996 through 2001. During the entire time period analyzed 13 states participated in HSEES: Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. An additional four states participated during portions of the time period: New Hampshire (1996), New Jersey (2000-2001), Utah (2000-2001), and Louisiana (2001). The public use dataset in text format contains tab delimited fields. The file contains 39,766 records, 84 variables, and a maximum record length of 920. All data files contain one line of data for each event reported to HSEES. If the total number of chemicals in an event exceeds six, then only the first six are listed. A victim is defined as a person experiencing at least one documented adverse health effect (such as respiratory irritation or chemical burns) that likely resulted from the event and occurred within 24 hours of the release. The HSEES system does not identify the immediate cause of the adverse health effect other than the event itself. To determine the nature of victim injuries, state coordinators selected up to 7 entries among trauma, respiratory irritation, eye irritation, nausea or vomiting, heat stress, chemical burns, thermal burns, skin irritation, dizziness or other CNS symptoms, and headache. Therefore, the number of injuries per event is likely to exceed the number of victims. State coordinators could select up to two categories to describe the type of area where the event occurred, type of fixed-facility for fixed-facility events, and type of transportation for transportation events. For fixed-facility events, information on contributing factors was expanded from one to two choices beginning in 2000. Information on contributing factors for transportation events was collected beginning in 2000. The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) is used to represent county codes that are unique within each state. Pre-appended 2-digit FIPS state codes are provided to form the complete FIPS county code. Some events may lack the three digit county code because no county is listed for that particular event. A list of state and county FIPS codes for the United States can be found at the following website: http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/codes/state.html and Appendix A. Industry codes for the type of industry responsible for each HSEES event were assigned according to the 1990 Industrial Classification System of the U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau of the Census). The industry classification system consists of 243 codes (see Appendix B). A description chemical categories and the hierarchical assignment are provided in Appendix C. Variable Position Type Length Description _________________________________________________________________________________________________ RCD_ID 1 NUM 8 Sequential record number STATE 2 CHAR 2 State where event occurred AL = Alabama CO = Colorado IA = Iowa LA = Louisiana MN = Minnesota MO = Missouri MS = Mississippi NC = North Carolina NH = New Hampshire NJ = New Jersey NY = New York OR = Oregon TX = Texas RI = Rhode Island UT = Utah WA = Washington WI = Wisconsin EVNTCNTY 3 CHAR 30 County where event occurred FIPSCODE 4 CHAR 5 Five digit FIPS county code (See http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/codes/state.html) EVNTTYPE 5 CHAR 1 Type of event T = Transportation F = Fixed facility THRTACTU 6 CHAR 1 Was the release actual or threatened 1 = All actually released into the environment 2 = All threatened to be released into the environment 3 = Some actually and some threatened to be released YEAR 7 CHAR 4 Year when event occurred 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 SEASON 8 CHAR 1 Season when event occurred W = Winter (December,January,February) S = Spring (March,April,May) U = Summer (June,July,August) F = Fall (September,October,November) WEEKDAY 9 CHAR 1 Portion of week when event occurred Y = Weekday (Monday - Friday) N = Weekend (Saturday and Sunday) TIME 10 CHAR 1 Time range that event occurred D = 06:00 am - 17:59 pm N = 18:00 pm - 05:59 pm AREATYP1 11 CHAR 1 Description one of type of area where event occurred 0 = Vacant 1 = Industrial 2 = Commercial 3 = Residential 4 = Rural/agriculture 5 = Forest 6 = Wetlands or coastal 7 = Surface water 8 = Other A = Military facility/DOE/DOD B = Railway, rail yard, and roadways C = Recreational AREATYP2 12 CHAR 1 Description two of type of area where event occurred (Codes are the same as AREATYP1) AREA_RES 13 CHAR 1 Residential area within 1/4 mile of event 1 = Yes 2 = No FACTOR1 14 CHAR 1 First contributing factor 1 = Improper mixing 2 = Equipment failure 3 = Operator Error 4 = Improper filling, overfill 8 = Other A = Maintenance B = System/process upset C = System start up and shutdown D = Factors beyond human control E = Power failure/electrical problems F = Unauthorized/improper dumping G = deliberate damage H = Bad weather condition I = Motor vehicle accident/rollover J = Fire K = Explosion FACTOR2 15 CHAR 1 Second contributing factor (Codes are the same as FACTOR1 except there also no 7=No Secondary Factor) FIXTYPE1 16 CHAR 1 Fixed facility type One 0 = Transportation within a fixed facility 2 = Process vessel 3 = Piping 4 = Material handling area 5 = Storage area above ground 6 = Storage area below ground 7 = Dump/waste area 8 = Other A = Ancillary process equipment B = Transformer or capacitor C = Incinerator D = Heating/Cooling for building E = Secondary Contamination F = Outdoor, farming or industrial areas G = Outdoor, non-farming or non-industrial areas H = Indoor, non-industrial, living (residence) areas I = Indoor, non-industrial, non-living areas J = Laboratory FIXTYPE2 17 CHAR 1 Fixed facility type two (Codes are the same as FIXTYPE1) TRNTYPE1 18 CHAR 1 Transportation type one 2 = Ground 3 = Rail 4 = Water 5 = Air 6 = Pipeline 8 = Other TRNTYPE2 19 CHAR 1 Transportation type two (Codes are the same as TRNTYPE1) IND_DESC 20 CHAR 75 Industry code description IND_CODE 21 CHAR 3 Three digit industry code (See Appendix A) ATHOMQTR 22 NUM 8 Number of people at home within 1/4 mile of event LIVEQTR 23 NUM 8 Number of people living within 1/4 mile of event EVAC_ORD 24 CHAR 1 Evacuation ordered Y = Yes N = No EVAC_PPL 25 NUM 8 Total number of people evacuated as a result of the event DCON_SN 26 NUM 8 Number of people decontaminated at the scene DCON_MF 27 NUM 8 Number of people decontaminated at a medical facility TOT_CHEM 28 NUM 8 Total number of chemicals spilled SUB_CAT 29 CHAR 2 Substance category 1 = Acid 2 = Ammonia 3 = Bases 4 = Chlorine 5 = Other inorganic substances category 6 = Paints and dyes 7 = Pesticides 8 = PCB's 9 = VOC 10= Other substance category not listed 12= Mixture across chemical categories A = Formulations B = Hetero Organics C = Hydrocarbons D = Oxy-Organic E = Polymers 88= Multiple substance categories CHEM1 30 CHAR 70 Chemical name one RELS1CHEM1 31 CHAR 1 First type of release for Chemical #1 1 = Spill 2 = Air emission 3 = Fire 4 = Explosion 7 = Threatened 8 = Other type of release RELS2CHEM1 32 CHAR 1 Second type of release for Chemical #1 (Codes are the same as RELS1CHEM1) CHEM2 33 CHAR 70 Chemical name two RELS1CHEM2 34 CHAR 1 First type of release for chemical #2 (Codes are the same as RELS1CHEM1) RELS2CHEM2 35 CHAR 1 Second type of release for chemical #2 (Codes are the same as RELS1CHEM1) CHEM3 36 CHAR 70 Chemical name three RELS1CHEM3 37 CHAR 1 First type of release for chemical #3 (Codes are the same as RELS1CHEM1) RELS2CHEM3 38 CHAR 1 Second type of release for chemical #3 (Codes are the same as RELS1CHEM1) CHEM4 39 CHAR 70 Chemical name four RELS1CHEM4 40 CHAR 1 First type of release for chemical #4 (Codes are the same as RELS1CHEM1) RELS2CHEM4 41 CHAR 1 Second type of release for chemical #4 (Codes are the same as RELS1CHEM1) CHEM5 42 CHAR 70 Chemical name five RELS1CHEM5 43 CHAR 1 First type of release for chemical #5 (Codes are the same as RELS1CHEM1) RELS2CHEM5 44 CHAR 1 Second type of release for chimcal #5 (Codes are the same as RELS1CHEM1) CHEM6 45 CHAR 70 Chemical name six RELS1CHEM6 46 CHAR 1 First type of release for chemical #6 (Codes are the same as RELS1CHEM1) RELS2CHEM6 47 CHAR 1 Second type of release for chemical #6 (Codes are the same as RELS1CHEM1) TOT_VICT 48 NUM 8 Total number of victims of the event AGE_RNG1 49 NUM 8 Number of victims between birth and 19 years of age AGE_RNG2 50 NUM 8 Number of victims between 20 and 64 years of age AGE_RNG3 51 NUM 8 Number of victims 65 years of age or more VICT_EMP 52 NUM 8 Number of employee victims VICT_RESP 53 NUM 8 Number of responder victims VICT_GP 54 NUM 8 Number of General public victims VICT_STD 55 NUM 8 Number of student victims INJ_TRA 56 NUM 3 Number of victims with trauma injuries INJ_RESP 57 NUM 3 Number of victims with respiratory system irritation INJ_EYE 58 NUM 3 Number of victims with eye irritation INJ_GASTRO 59 NUM 3 Number of victims with gastrointestinal problems INJ_HEAT 60 NUM 3 Number of victims with heat stress injuries INJ_CHEM 61 NUM 3 Number of victims with chemical burn injuries INJ_THERM 62 NUM 3 Number of victims with thermal burn injuries INJ_SKIN 63 NUM 3 Number of victims with skin irritation injuries INJ_CNS 64 NUM 3 Number of victims with dizziness or other CNS symptoms INJ_HACHE 65 NUM 3 Number of victims with headaches INJ_HRT 66 NUM 3 Number of victims with heart problems INJ_SOB 67 NUM 3 Number of victims with shortness of breath SEV_DTH 68 NUM 8 Number of victims where injury severity was deadly SEV_HOSPA 69 NUM 8 Number of victims where injury severity required treatment at hospital and admittance SEV_HOSPR 70 NUM 8 Number of victims where injury severity required treatment at hospital without being admitted or victim was transported to hospital for observation with no treatment SEV_NHOSP 71 NUM 8 Number of victims where injury severity required treatment on the scene (first aid); or victim was seen by a private physician within 24 hrs; or injuries were experienced within 24 hrs of the event and reported by an official