Citation

Gershon RRM, Rubin MS, Qureshi KA, Canton AN, Matzner FJ. Disaster Med. Public Health Prep. 2008; 2(3): 142-149.

Affiliation

Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY 10032, USA. rg405@columbia.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Publisher Cambridge University Press)

DOI

10.1097/DMP.0b013e318184b48f

PMID

18845929

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Participatory action research (PAR) methodology is an effective tool in identifying and implementing risk-reduction interventions. It has been used extensively in occupational health research, but not, to our knowledge, in disaster research. A PAR framework was incorporated into the World Trade Center evacuation study, which was designed to identify the individual, organizational, and structural (environmental) factors that affected evacuation from the World Trade Center Towers 1 and 2 on September 11, 2001. PAR teams-comprising World Trade Center evacuees, study investigators, and expert consultants-worked collaboratively to develop a set of recommendations designed to facilitate evacuation from high-rise office buildings and reduce risk of injury among evacuees. METHODS: Two PAR teams worked first separately and then collectively to identify data-driven strategies for improvement of high-rise building evacuation. RESULTS: The teams identified interventions targeting individual, organizational, and structural (environmental) barriers to safe and rapid evacuation. CONCLUSIONS: PAR teams were effective in identifying numerous feasible and cost-effective strategies for improvement of high-rise emergency preparedness and evacuation. This approach may have utility in other workplace disaster prevention planning and response programs.

Language: en