Decontamination
Health and Safety Hazards
While decontamination is performed to protect health and safety, it can pose hazards under certain circumstances.
While decontamination is performed to protect health and safety, it can pose hazards under certain circumstances.
Decontamination methods may:
- Be incompatible with the hazardous substances being removed (i.e., a decontamination method may react with contaminants to produce an explosion, heat, or toxic products).
- Be incompatible with the clothing or equipment being decontaminated (e.g., some organic solvents can permeate and/or degrade protective clothing).
- Pose a direct health hazard to workers (e.g., vapors from chemical decontamination solutions may be hazardous if inhaled, or they may be flammable).
The chemical and physical compatibility of the decontamination solutions or other decontamination materials must be determined before they are used.
- Any decontamination method that permeates, degrades, damages, or otherwise impairs the safe functioning of the PPE is incompatible with PPE and should not be used.
- If a decontamination method does pose a direct health hazard, measures must be taken to protect both decontamination workers and the workers being decontaminated.
The figure below is a decision tree for evaluating the health and safety aspects of decontamination methods.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
4-1. A decontamination method that reacts with contaminants to produce an explosion, heat, or toxic products is considered a/an _____.
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