General Precautions in Responding to Chemical Attacks

When caring for victims, rapid decontamination is an essential first step in reducing exposure. The basic purpose of decontamination is to reduce external contamination, contain the contamination present, and prevent the spread of the hazardous material. In the words of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) (9), remove what you can and contain what you can t.  

By making the victim As Clean as Possible (ACAP), the contamination will no longer threaten the patient or the responder (9). 

Most states will have a designated resource center, such as a regional Poison Control Center, which can provide information for caring for specific hazardous chemical exposures, including appropriate decontamination procedures. 

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). 

Given the layers of PPE, personnel may have difficulty recognizing and communicating with each other. To facilitate communication, personnel can wear pieces of masking tape containing their names (9). 

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