I teach around 20 HAZMAT courses each year for industrial response teams and fire departments and the differences in how these two groups conduct their DECON can be HUGE. Almost everyone who has been through a 24-hr or 40-hr HAZMAT course has seen a 6 stage DECON up to a 20 stage DECON; but are these the real world in industrial settings? The differences in response situations can vary greatly for public responders, but for industrial responders things can be much more controlled. Here’s what I mean…
Most of the industrial teams I train with never step off concrete in their responses, where as the fire departments rarely step on concrete or asphalt in their responses. Lets look at how DECON can differ in these work environments.
If we have hazardous materials on site, what device will we have in the area? Eyewash/Shower? Now which do we think is the best 1st Stage of DECON? A safety shower that is DESIGNED for DECON or some plastic pressure sprayer designed to apply lawn care materials that has 15 of its 20 openings plugged? I encourage industrial teams to utilize their safety showers when possible as the 1st stage DECON. This also REDUCES exposures to those working the DECON line! Since we are working in teams, each entry team member can assist his/her partner in getting a good rinsing before moving on to stage 2. In some cases, the safety shower may be all that is needed! Many of my clients deal with chemicals that have high vapor pressures and are water soluble and this makes for a near perfect situation for using the safety shower. I have even taught folks to make their entry/exit corridors with the location of the safety shower in consideration of these paths. When they enter they activate the shower and lets it run while they are in the zones. This allows for the shower to flush and ensures it is ready for any type of incident that may compromise the suit and expose personnel to the contaminant.
It is when the responders have to trudge through 6 inches of mud in a corn field to reach the release point is when we need the full blown DECON. In our corn field we have an entirely different working environment (muddy) and most corn fields do not have safety showers plumbed!!! So for the fire departments responding to these releases the traditional DECON is a MUST. If you have never been on the front line of a DECON arrangement and were responsible for getting the mud out of the responders boots you may not understand how such an easy sounding task can be so darn hard! But the traditional DECON with all the baby pools (or some means to capture run-off) along with the plastic containment, sprayers and personnel.
The other benefit the Safety Shower provides is the fact that it is doing a job that would normally require a “person” to do. And as we know, if the entry team entered in LEVEL A the first stage of DECON must be LEVEL B. This “burns” another warm trained body and an SCBA and with most industrial teams being challenged with staffing on the “off-shifts” the safety shower really comes in handy. As long as the responders stay on solid surfaces such as concrete and asphalt, DECONing their boots and gear can be strictly about chemical neutralization and/or removal and the safety shower is MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE and easier than setting up a DECON line with pools and water.
We will not have this luxury outside an industrial setting. Fire Departments have to manage “run-off” and therefore they can not just spray off responders and let the water contact the ground or get into a water way. This is where the traditional DECON arrangement becomes a MUST as the entire point of DECON is to prevent the spread of contamination. Most fire departments have the ability to call in ample resources to aid in supporting a response, so setting up the traditional DECON is manageable for them – not so for many industrial teams.
Bottom line… DECON is a CRITICAL PATH to safety in every response, but the methods and means at which we can DECON personnel can make our responses more efficient without compromising the safety of the personnel, the community and the environment. We have distinct advantages we can use in a controlled environment like an industrial setting so why not use them? It reduces personnel numbers, reduces personnel exposures, and and safety shower is much more effective at 1st stage DECON than 1-2 people with toilet brushes and lawn sprayers!