Defining Decontamination Areas

Staff who have been engaged in the processing of animakissue materials or of cultures of miaoorganisms other than those used in the current manufacturing process should not enter sterile-product areas unless rigorous and dearly defined decontamination procedures have been followed. 

The decontamination effectiveness of these non-chemical procedures varies greatly depending on the specific technique and installations applied. Usually they are applied for the decontamination of limited and well-defined areas, such as the end regions of the main coolant pipes in steam generator replacement actions. The application of abrasive methods often suffers from the hazard of surface damaging of the materials, so that rapid recontamination of the decontaminated areas during... 

Decontamination is defined as the process of removing or neutralizing a hazard from the environment, property, or life form. The principal objectives of this process are to prevent further harm and optimize the chance for full clinical recovery or restoration of the object exposed to Ae dangerous hazard. The triage process is the initial step taken to meet the primary objectives of a disaster response, which involves sorting the injured by priority and determining the best utilization of available resources (e.g., personnel, equipment, medications, ambulances, and hospital beds). This chapter includes a review of decontamination and mass triage with an emphasis on the research and development needs in these areas of disaster response. 

You should be able to define the blast zone (a minimum of 300 feet, but 1,000 feet is preferred). If Incident Command has not been established, you should initiate the system. If no patient decontamination and evaluation area has been selected, you should do this before entering the scene. 

In the context of toxic chemical agents, decontamination may be defined as the removal of a persistent agent fiom a victim or his surrounding area in order to minimise further exposure and toxic trauma to both the victim and emergency responders. Box 4.5 shows the essential characteristics of basic decontamination. 

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