Guidelines for Mass Casualty Decontamination during a Terrorist Chemical Agent Incident

The Mass Casualty Decontamination Research Team (MCDRT) collectively addressed the issue of how to effectively decontaminate large numbers of people. Emphasis was placed on decontamination methods that could be performed with equipment and expertise readily available to most responder jurisdictions....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lake, William A, Fedele, Paul D, Marshall, Stephen M
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
AMBULATORY CASUALTIES
CASUALTIES
CHEMICAL AGENTS
Chemical, Biological and Radiological Warfare
DECONTAMINATION
FLUSHING
FOG NOZZLE
LADDER PIPE DECONTAMINATIO SYSTEM
LIQUIDS
MASS
MCDRT(MASS CASUALTY DECONTAMINATION RESEARCH TEAM)
METHODOLOGY
NONAMBULATORY CASUALTIES
NONAQUEOUS METHODS
SKIN DECONTAMINATION
TERRORISM
TRIAGE
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The Mass Casualty Decontamination Research Team (MCDRT) collectively addressed the issue of how to effectively decontaminate large numbers of people. Emphasis was placed on decontamination methods that could be performed with equipment and expertise readily available to most responder jurisdictions. The general principles identified to guide emergency responder policies, procedures, and actions after a chemical agent incident were: Expect at least a 5:1 ratio of unaffected-to-affected casualties; Decontaminate victims as soon as possible; Disrobing is decontamination; head to toe, more removal is better; Generally, water flushing is the best mass decontamination method; After a known exposure to liquid chemical agent, emergency responders should be decontaminated as soon as possible to avoid serious effects. --Original contains color plates: All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white.