Decontamination area

Clean room The clean room is an area where showered workers dry off, dress up in their street clothes, and exit the decontamination area. The clean room should have a clean locker for every worker. The... 

The order used to clean these areas may be intuitive, but for clarity s sake we should keep in mind the following principle. Cleanup should be performed in the cleanest areas first. For the five-stage decontamination area mentioned, cleaning should start in the clean room. In fact, cleaning should start in the cleanest area of the clean room, and then address each area in order of cleanliness. The last area to be cleaned will be the dirty room. If workers will be performing cleanup activities, they should be properly trained and qualified. If an outside service is utilized, those workers should also be trained and qualified [4]. 

Decontaminants. Area decontamination is not required as CS has a short duration, of effectiveness. Personnel exposed to CS may shower as necessary however, when CS dust or particles are on the skin, showering should be delayed for 6 hours to prevent stinging and reddening of the skin. Individuals affected by CS should move to fresh air, face the wind, and remain well spaced and should not rub their eyes. To remove accidental gross contamination, personnel should remove clothing and immediately flush body with copious amts of water to remove most of the agent apply 5% Na bisulfite soln to remove remainder (except in or around eyes) and then rinse body... 

After patient contact, remove gown, leg and shoe coverings, and gloves in a designated decontamination area. Hands should be washed prior to removal of respiratory and eye protection (i.e., mask/respirator, face shield, and goggles) to minimize potential exposure of mucous membranes. Wash hands again after removal of facial PPE. 

Improvement Item LEL (lower explosive limit) and standard 02 levels monitored by ACHMT, indicating crash scene impact only. Chlorine could have been indicated with proper monitoring equipment. ACHMT was not effectively integrated into Haz-Mat operations. Decontamination areas were not monitored due to lack of Haz-Mat support at decontamination locations. 

In addition, nonprocess air emissions are produced by three boilers, two diesel-driven auxiliary generators, a laboratory filter vent, the medical decontamination area, and a vent from the sodium bicarbonate storage tank. 

Spread plastic sheeting on the ground in the decontamination area to protect the ground surface from dirty water spills. 

Air Compressor Room Facility Equipment Storage Point Area - Dunnage Chemical Laboratory Decontamination Area Surveillance Area Decon Storage Mixing Room Decon Sump Room... 

Warm/Dirty Adjacent to the hospitai, usuaiiy near the Emergency Department (remote to the reiease site) Hospitai decontamination area. This area needs a source of water (coid ciimates require a warm water source) for decontamination and barriers to controi entrance and exit from the area, which must be tightiy controiied. Personnei working in this area (first receivers) have potential to be exposed to the contaminant(s) and, therefore, must wear the appropriate level of PPE (level C minimum). At the entrance to the Warm Zone is the initial triage station. All ambulance and walk-in cases must enter the facility after going through this triage station. Victims who are clearly not contaminated skip the Warm Zone and enter the Cold (Clean) Zone directly. All others proceed into the Warm Zone for decontamination. 

Ideally, decontamination occurs outside the hospital by EMS providers (Johnson, 1997). If this does not occur, prepare a decontamination area for the patient. If possible, the ideal location is outdoors (see Table 26.4). If indoor decontamination is necessary, a decontamination room is the next ideal location. Indoor decontamination should occur only in cases in which a controlled indoor environment may be maintained safely. 

Prepare decontamination area (warm zone should be outside of the facility). 

Direct patient to the decontamination area (Warm Zone). 

Instruct patients to wipe feet before entering decontamination area—use mat or remove shoes directly into plastic bag. 

Instruct patient to walk out of shower into Secondary (Definitive) decontamination area. 

Virtually all radiological cases will require some sampling to confirm the level of exposure and to help determine a treatment plan (see Table 27.4). Samples must be treated as potentially radioactive until proven otherwise, and analytical equipment and areas may become contaminated, precluding their use for nonradiological patients until decontaminated. Blood samples must be obtained from uncontaminated (or decontaminated) areas to reduce the chance of inadvertent sample contam-... 

The set up and use of the decontamination area must be careftdly thought out. Often, the area is split into different zones (Rotenberg et al, 2003). At a minimum, there must be a dirty contaminated zone and a clean decontaminated zone. It is critical to emphasize that traffic must go one-way between zones. This will eliminate the possibility of a cleaned patient becoming cross-contaminated or an exposed patient entering a health care facility before being decontaminated. Security personnel must be utilized to make sure patients do not consciously or unconsciously violate the rules. A secondary triage will be needed as patients enter the clean zone to allow patients to receive antidotes or be referred for further care. Keep in mind that for severely ill patients, antidote administration may precede decontamination. 

The contamination reduction zone is the area between the highly contaminated area and the noncon-taminated area. Reasonably, the decontamination area is often located in the contamination reduction zone. PPE in the contamination reduction zone is usually one level of protection below that of the worker in the exclusion zone. Because airborne levels within the contamination reduction zone can be unpredictable and can change quickly, evacuations within this area is recommended. 

Special decontamination areas outside the hospital emergency department or in the field are the best locations for decontamination (7). If the decontamination area is within the hospital, its ventilation system should be separate from the rest of the hospital or turned off to prevent the spread of contamination. If it is necessary to turn the ventilation system off, the hospital should follow OSHA regulations on atmospheric monitoring, especially if health care workers are using air-purifying respirators (9,10). 

Health care facilities can reduce secondary contamination by removing all non-essential and nondisposable equipment from decontamination areas. Taping any surface subject to hand contact, such as doorknobs, cabinet handles, light switches, and covering floors with plastic or paper sheeting, can provide additional protection. 

A. General. Medical Treatment Facilities (MTFs) will establish decontamination areas. When casualties arrive at the MTF, they must be seen at a triage point and evacuated to the proper area. The triage officer must determine if the patients have a surgical or medical condition that requires priority over decontamination. Ninety to ninety-five percent of all decontamination can be accomplished by removing the outer clothing and shoes. This can usually be accomplished before admission without interfering with medical treatment. Several unique aspects must be considered. 

The triage officer will send casualties (a) back to duty, (b) to the emergency treatment station, (c) to the decontamination area, or (d) to the dirty evacuation area. 

A decontamination area must be a part of the early medical care to limit the degree of exposure to the casualty. Emergency medical care will, initially, be provided by nonmedical workers who are responsible for removing the casualties from the site of injury through a personnel decontamination station and to the waiting medical team. Further evacuation may be required for one or more victims, either to the Installation Medical Facility (IMF) or to an off-post medical treatment facility (MTF). Civilian medical facilities may be required to receive the injured personnel, and they also will need their own supplies, equipment, and training appropriate for treating these casualties. 

Since dedicated areas are needed to allow effective decontamination of equipment and personnel and to minimize the spread of contamination to adjacent areas during equipment handling operations, decontamination areas with sinks, workbench space, storage for hot tools and equipment, and decontamination suppi ies should be provided. Typical buildings to be furnished include primary containment, fuel handling and storage, health physics, contaminated shops, and plant radwaste facilities. 

All permanently established decontamination areas should be provided with locally alarmed radiation monitors near potentially high radiation level collection devices such as tanks, filters, demineralizes, etc.,... 

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