When I teach Emergency Response courses at fixed facilities I encourage the facility to use their safety showers as their first stage (and often the only stage) of decontamination during an emergency response. For years, fixed facility personnel attended HAZMAT training with local fire departments where they were taught the traditional 4-6 stage decon line with all the dressings (e.g. baby pools, booms, plastic, etc.) But there is a VAST difference between a decon on a city street and at a fixed facility; but there should be some careful considerations when using a safety shower as a the first stage of decon.
Pro’s
- Safety showers, per ANSI, must have at least 20-30 gpm (depending on when the shower was installed). This flow rate is much more effective than the small pressurized sprayers (along with the infamous toilet brushes!) that have become so popular on decon lines.
- Safety showers are FIXED and require no deployment, saving personnel resources resources on the response scene
- Safety showers are engineered for one purpose… DECONTAMINATING EXPOSED personnel. All we are doing is using it to decon our PPE.
Con’s
- Placement of safety shower(s) should undergo a EHS review to ensure that run-off from the shower will be contained and do little harm to the environment. PLEASE NOTE: We have come across some showers that were placed within feet of a stormwater drain.
- Showers not maintained/inspected and result in inadequate flows. (I know this is not the showers fault!)
When we are responding to a tanker or railcar incident outside of a fixed facility we do not have the option/advantage of a fixed safety shower. We also MUST capture all of our decon run-off, thus we use the traditional decon line with the stage containment (e.g. baby pools, booms, and plastic). We can not just spray off the responders and let the contaminated water find its way into the soil and nearby water ways. But when we are within the confines of a fixed facility, we have many advantages that we should utilize during our response. Many response teams at these facilities have limited number of responders and setting up the traditional decon line is a very labor and resource intensive exercise. Keeping in mind that the actual response can NOT begin until decon is fully functional. Using your safety shower as your first stage of decon will reduce the demand on personnel and allow for a more timely response.
We have to consider the “response environment” when establishing our decon needs. In the off-site scenario, responders are often times walking through muddy conditions and anyone who has walked through mud with boots on knows first hand how a size 10 boot quickly becomes a size 13 with all the mud in the soles of the boots. Each grain of the mud/dirty from the boots MUST be removed in the decon process. This kind of gross decon is done in stage one (1) of the decon process and I think we can all agree a safety shower is NOT the best tool for deconning mud from the soles of boots. But again, responders are fixed facilities are most likely NOT going to be walking through mud to reach the point of release, thus potentially eliminating the need for this type of gross decon stage.
Lastly, consider the properties of the hazardous material(s) involved in the response. Those chemicals with high(er) vapor pressures may be problematic during the uncontrolled release; however, they can make decon considerably easier. Again, at a fixed facility where the responders are working on hard surfaces and not mud, by the time they exit the hot zone and travel the distance in the warm zone to the decon station (i.e. safety shower) most, if not all, of the high vapor pressure hazardous material will have flashed off the PPE, making the safety shower stage the only true decon stage necessary. I would, and always do with my students, recommend that at least one person be donned in some level of PPE be available to aid in the removal of the responder’s PPE. But I will make the statement and stand-by it that after a safety shower decon, personnel no longer need to be in the PPE as if they were the second line of decon in a traditional decon line. The decon rule is… the front line decon personnel MUST be donned in PPE equal to or just one PPE level less than the responders. This means that if the response involves Level A suits then the front line decon personnel MUST be donned in at least Level B (and sometimes Level A). Depending on your staffing levels in the Decon Line this means another 1-2 SCBA’s, triple the breathing air needs for the response, and add time for dress out to include those dressing out for the decon line. By using the safety shower as your front line of decon we remove these obstacles, while actually improving the efficiency and ability of the decon front line all the while lesseing the the risk of an expsoure event in the decon station.
So consider using a safety shower in your emergency response program as your front line of decon. Wether a chemical with a high vapor pressure or low vapor pressure, the safety shower can be a very effective front line decon station that requires NO personnel be present thus reducing exposure to other personnel while providing a more efficient and effective method of decon. But user(s) BEWARE… make sure your safety showers are placed in locations that will contain the run-off as necessary!