Personnel decontamination kits

Medical equipment is available on a limited basis. Basic first-aid kits are distributed throughout TA-V, and a more comprehensive supply is provided at the Emergency Assembly Building. This equipment includes a decontamination shower and a selection of first-aid materials for personnel decontamination, either radioactive or hazardous. Wall-mounted stretchers are placed at various locations throughout TA-V. TA-V Reentry Team members and other TA-V personnel receive site-specific first aid training, including CPR. 

There are thus a number of steps that can be taken to minimise or deal with the effects of a chemical attack. All have disadvantages none is foolproof. Moreover, even if all forms of protection and decontamination work perfectly they still carry operational penalties, in terms of diminished performance and reduced availability of personnel and kit. However good a nation s defences, a chemical attack on its forces would still have a measurable effect on operations. 

M256-Series Chemical Agent Detector Kit A kit used by military personnel to detect and identify field concentrations of nerve, blister or blood agent vapors. The kit consists of twelve samplers/detectors and a packet of M8 detector paper. It is used at the squad, crew or section level to detect and identify field concentrations of nerve, blister or blood agents vapors. It is usually used to determine when it is safe to unmask, to locate and identify chemical hazards, and to monitor decontamination effectiveness. 

The PCPS consists of the protective shelter, support kit, and hermetically sealed filter canister. The shelter consists of a tent and fly. The tent floor and fly are made of a saranaex composite material. An attached aluminum structure helps to support the tent. When overpressure is applied, the shelter will provide protection from liquid and vapor chemical agent penetration and biological agent penetration. An airlock allows decontamination of entering personnel. The PCPS provides an uncontaminated, positive pressure shelter for use as a command and control facility or a rest and relief facility for 14 people at a time in a contaminated environment. 

The most important care for a chemical casualty is that provided within the first few minutes. This cannot be provided by medical personnel and must be done by each individual. This self-aid includes decontamination and the self-administration of the antidote kit if exposure was to a nerve agent. 

Ambulatory patients should be directed to the decontamination area. They should have a thorough wet decontamination as soon as possible. Alive but nonambulatory patients should be removed rapidly from the scene using load and go principles. They should have a thorough wet decontamination as soon as possible. If the weapon is a nerve agent, some critical patients may need the Nerve Agent Antidote Kit before they are moved. Do not put these patients in your ambulance until they have been decontaminated. Leave the dead in place until law enforcement personnel have investigated the crime scene. 

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