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DECONTAMINATION The wads ito decontaminate people and equipment can vary. If you need help with decontarn nation. c o ntact the emerge n cy respo n se telep h o ne n um r provided on the shi pping papers or th e a gencies I isted on the i nside back cove r. Th ese reso u roes may be able to put you in c entact with the c hem ical man ufact u rer to determi n e the ap pro priate procedure if not otherwise awai Iabl e. Decontarn ination i s the pre ss of removi ng or neutralizi ng hazardous material s/dangerous goads that have contaminated people and equipment during an incident- Contamination happens in the area generally referred to as the Hot Zone. Everything and everyone entering this zone should be deoontaminated when leaving, including emergency response personnel. This reduces the chances that more contamination wtll occur. There are two main types of contamination: • Direct contamination happens in the Hot Zone. • Cross contamination happens when someone or something outside the Hat Zone was n of prope rly decontam i nated and comes i n contact with another object or pe rson u sual ly i n the Unarm or Cold Zon e. To decontaminate, you must: • physically remove contam inanits; and/or • chemically neutralize cantami nants'. The NFPA 472, Chapter 3, describes the following four kinds of decontamination. (1) Gross decontamination: Quickly removing surface contamination, which usually happens by mechanically removing the contaminant or rinsing with water from handheld hose lines, emergency showers, or other nearby water sources. (2) Technical decontamination: Reducing contamination to a level as low as possible by cherni cal or physical methods. A hazmat team wil I perform this kind of deoonFami nation. (3) Mass decontamination: Reducing or remcvi nq surface contaminants as fast as possible from a large number of people in potentially life-threatening situations. (4) Emergency decorrtam ination: Immediately reduoi n g contamination of people in potentially life-threatening situations with or without formally setting up a decontamination corridor. This process should be performed upwind and uphill from victi ms. Responders shou Id avoid contact with victi ms, ru noff or spray from the decontamination process. Emergenoy and mass decontami nation can be done with firefighting and rescue operations equipment. Nozzles can be put on wide-angle fog patterns and sprayed towards the ground to create a decontam i nation shower. Responders can aJ so place nozzl es on. the discharge ports of engines. Contaminated clothing and equipment must be removed after use and stored in a controlled area (Warm Zane) until cleanup procedures can be i n_ Sometimes protective clothing and equipment can not be deoontami nated and must b o•e dispsed of properly. Chemical neutralization releases heat. 00 NOT PERFORM on a victim.