Occupational hazards of fire debris cleanup are the hazards to health and safety of the personnel tasked with clearing the area of debris and combustion products after a conflagration. Once extinguished, fire debris cleanup poses several safety and health risks for workers.[1][2] Employers responsible for fire debris cleanup and other work in areas damaged or destroyed by fire are generally obliged by occupational safety and health legislation of the relevant national or regional authority to identify and evaluate hazards, correct any unsafe or unhealthy conditions and provide any necessary training and instruction and personal protective equipment to employees to enable them to carry out the task without undue exposure to hazards. Many of the approaches to control risk in occupational settings can be applied to preventing injuries and disease. This type of work can be completed by general construction firms who may not be fully trained specifically for fire safety and on fire hazards.
Asbestos, which has well known health risks, is still quite commonly found in older buildings, and there are also risks from degraded roofing tiles, melted metals and electronics, unstable structures, and the sooty residues from burnt materials. Silica, one of the most common compounds on earth, can cause adverse health consequences if inhaled as fine particulates. Many combustion products are carcinogenic, particularly when inhaled as dusts.