We Are Different Now

Shaken to the core. Forever affected. Shocked. Overwhelmed with grief, fear and sadness. Wounded at heart. Time stood still. I’ll never forget.

Those are just a few of the phrases used by the EHS leaders who shared their personal accounts of one of the darkest days in United States history – Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists launched a coordinated attack that killed approximately 3,000 people on American soil. Many more, however, would be affected by the attacks in the days, weeks and years to come.

Thousands upon thousands of rescue workers, volunteers, office workers and residents were exposed to the hazardous conditions at ground zero in New York. Effects from the dust cloud have been linked with lung damage, cancer, heart disease, asthma and more. Some relief for responders has come in the form of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which went into effect July 1 to provide treatment and services for first responders suffering from health effects following the terrorist attacks. But the trauma from 9/11 extended beyond physical effects – psychological impacts include post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression, anxiety and other mental health ailments.

When Zach Mansdorf, Ph.D., CIH, CSP, QEP, an EHS and sustainability consultant and former senior vice president of L’Oreal, recalls his experience of watching the day’s events unfold while he lived in France, the words “nervousness and isolation” were among the first to come to his mind. And every year on the anniversary of Sept. 11, Cynthia Roth, founder and CEO of Ergonomic Technologies Corp., returns to the Long Island diner she was in when the attacks occurred, where she reunites with many of the same people who experienced that day with her. Clearly, she and the other diners remain affected – and connected – by the catastrophic event they witnessed a decade ago.

NY Fire Deptartment paramedics at the site of the World Trade Center.

Roth and Mansdorf, along with many others, share their accounts of where they were, what they were doing and how they felt on that clear September day 10 years ago when terrorists attacked. You can read their accounts below. From the FBI agent who helped with the Pentagon site response to the business traveler struggling to return home, the EHS manager coordinating an evacuation or the mother worrying over her son in the Air Force, the pain and heart shine through these stories.

Roth speaks for many in the EHS community and beyond when she says, “That day shall remain forever emblazoned in my mind.” Because the truth is, 9/11 did have a lasting impact on the nation and the EHS profession. We are different now.

New Life

I remember that morning so vividly. I was preparing to go to work when I noticed something about the WTC on the news. My wife, meanwhile, was in the process of taking a pregnancy test. I was glancing back and forth from the TV to the pregnancy test. At the very moment that the plane crashed into the WTC building, the test results revealed that my wife was pregnant with our first child. My oldest daughter is now 9 years old. I’ll never forget that morning…

Rhazy E.

North Hills, Calif.