National Toxic Substance Incidents Program

Established in 2010, this program builds on the spill and release data collected from 1993 through 2009 by the Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance program. The information is reviewed for patterns in locations or types of incidents. We can then suggest strategies and actions that might prevent these incidents or injuries from occurring in the future. We can provide alerts to public health personnel and emergency responders. We can explore ways to promote green chemistry and safer technologies.

Examples of data collected by program staff for incidents that meet the case definition include:

  • the time, day and date of the incident;
  • the name and quantity of the hazardous substance(s) spilled or released to air;
  • the type of industry involved;
  • factors contributing to the incident;
  • geo-coded information on the location of the incident;
  • details about the population density in the surrounding area and the types of nearby facilities, for example, nursing homes and schools;
  • types of responders, such as firefighters and hazmat teams;
  • control actions, including road closure, evacuation or sheltering-in-place; and
  • injury-related information, specifically, who was injured (employee, responder, student, general public), injury type, medical outcome and uses of personal protective equipment.

The NTSIP program is funded by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and consists of three parts. ATSDR administers the National Database and Assessment of Chemical Exposures program at the federal level. State-based surveillance is conducted in New York and six other states (Louisiana, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin).

Contact Information

Send your questions, comments and data requests to ntsip@health.state.ny.us. To contact staff for information, or to request materials or a presentation:

National Toxic Substance Incidents Program
Center for Environmental Health
New York State Department of Health
547 River Street
Troy, New York 12180-2216
Phone: (518) 402-7810
Fax: (518) 402-7819