Hazmat and CBR Flashcards
What five properties could warrant classification as a hazardous material?
Any substance or mixture of substances because of its
- Chemical properties
- Microbiological properties
- Radiological properties
- Temperature
- State of compression
In sufficient quantity/concentration could cause harm to people/property/environment is classified as a hazardous material.
What are the three classifications of hazardous materials?
- Non-dangerous goods
- Dangerous goods
- Goods too dangerous to be transported
What are dangerous goods?
Hazardous materials that exhibit physical/chemical properties that meet certain criteria.
How many hazard classes of dangerous goods exist?
Nine
Can a hazardous material meet the criteria for more than one class of dangerous goods?
Dangerous goods are classified by the most significant ____ presented.
Hazard
What is the term for materials with significant hazardous properties in more than one classification?
Subsidary risk
What are the characteristics of materials classified as non-dangerous goods?
- Do not meet the dangerous goods criteria
- Includes scheduled poisons
- Physical/chemical properties may cause harm to people/property/environment
What are the characteristics of goods classified as too dangerous to be transported?
- Under normal transport conditions
- Liable to explode
- Dangerously react
- Produce flame
- Evolution of heat, toxic, corrosive, or flammable emmisions
- May be transported if stabilised through mixing/diluting
- May be found at manufacturing site
OA to a hazmat scene you will be confronted with multiple operations - name six.
- Containment/zones of operation
- Identification of agent/control release
- Rescue - triage/rx/tx
- Prevention of secondary contamination
- Mx of systemic effects
- Stabilisation of incident (rendering it safe)
List five elements of hazmat site isolation.
- Limit number of public/responders exposed to prevent spread
- Establish perimeter
- Establish control zones - hot/warm/cold
- Determine entry and exit points
- Locate emergency entrance and exit
What makes up the inner cordon?
The hot and warm operational zones.
What makes up the outer cordon?
The cold zone.
Which agencies work within the hot zone?
QFRS (combat control)
Which agencies work within the warm zone?
QFRS (combat control)
Which agencies work within the cold zone?
- QPS
- QFRS
- QAS
- Others
Describe three elements of hot zone establishment.
- Establish perimeter based on hazards
- Risk to life/critical systems/property
- Size of incident/status
- Weather and topography
- Establish control entry/exit/emergency exit
- Refuge
- PPE necessary
What needs to be established in the warm zone?
Decontamination corridors for incident personnel and the public.
What needs to be established in the cold zone?
- Location of operational areas
- Ambulance triage/rx/tx
- Police
- Fire service
- Command post/staging/medical/operational support
What needs to be considered for hazmat rescue?
- Probability of casualty survival
- Type of injury/exposure
- How many
- Where should triage occur
- Is it body retrieval?
What are the three types of rescue?
- Mobile but requires assistance
- Not mobile - unconscious/trapped
- Emergency service personnel
What is decontamination and what is its purpose?
A physical/chemical process designed to prevent/reduce/control contamination.
TL;DR: purpose is to prevent contamination of others and those who are off-site.
Contamination may include…
- Person
- Objects/property/environment
- Direct or indirect
What are some functions of decontamination?
- Protect emergency service personnel/uncontaminated persons
- Remove contamination from casualities
- Reduce agent exposure and health effects
- Prevent contamination from spreading
- Provide psychological comfort
What is the difference between exposure and contamination?
Exposure is proximity to the hazardous substance without contact with it; contamination is having contact with the substance and carrying some of the substance on the person.
What groups of casualties exist in a hazmat situation?
- Emergency services
- Protected responders
- Unprotected responders
- Civilians
List the six priorities of decontamination.
- Closest to release
- Evidence of agents/symptoms
- Furthest away from release
- No evidence of agents/symptoms
- Civilians who believe they were exposed
- Objects and surfaces
Civilians removed by rescuers may have what mobile capabilities?
- May be trapped/non-ambulatory
- Non-ambulatory
- Ambulatory but require assistance
List four common features of civilians who believe they were exposed to a dangerous substance.
- Usually not near the source
- Were in the general area or observed the incident
- Not contaminated
- No symptoms will develop
List the possible statuses of civilians who removed themselves from the scene (self-rescued).
- Exhibit symptoms
- Increasing severity
- Alleviating
- Generally close to the source
- Not exhibiting symptoms
- Not contaminated
- Contaminated - symptoms delayed
Note: understand concept, don’t memorise
List some issues with decontamination.
- Agent
- Communication
- Clear concise instructions
- Number and type of casualties
- Environmental conditions
- Slope/geography
- Weather
- Available resources
- Decontamination method
- Deceased
- Decontaminate before post-mortem exam
- Deceased
- Casualty safety/privacy
- Consider separate decontamination corridors
- Men
- Women and children
- Clothing - strip to underwear only
- Consider separate decontamination corridors
- Dignitaries
- Management impacts
- Family separation
- Ethnic groups
- Religious groups
- Other languages
- Be alert for:
- Shock/psychological issues
- Those who refuse
- Terrorists
Name the two decontamination processes of the QFRS.
Technical decontamination and emergency decontamination.
True or false: separate corridors need to be established for the QFRS technical and emergency decontamination processes.
Which decontamination process is the normal QFRS decontamination procedure?
Technical decontamination
Describe emergency decontamination
- Responders and community (mass decontamination)
- Decontamination = water-water-water
- Time constrained
- Save lives by removing agent
- Strip-flush-cover
- Flush-strip-flush-cover if biological or radiological to stop re-aerosolisation of the agent
List four features of technical decontamination.
- Usually only applied to emergency responders
- Not time constrained
- Methodical/deliberate
- Resource intensive
List the five types of chemical agents and an example of each.
- Vesicants (blister agents) - mustard gas
- Blood agents - HCN (hydrogen cyanide)
- Lung agents - Cl2 (chlorine)
- Nerve agents - organophosphates; sarin
- Incapacitating agents (vomiting, tear agents) - tear gas
What are the two common types of vesicants?
Mustard gas and arsenicals (arsenic and chlorine)