Decontamination technology - are you prepared for the worst?

摘要

New drills and procedures must be developed for decontamination technology. In this joint paper two UK decontamination experts, Roger Cowlishaw and Mark Whitcher, examine current provisions for decontamination and arrive at some disturbing conclusions. The potential for a toxic chemical release, either as the result of an industrial accident or terrorist action, has never been higher and, since September 11, a strong case has emerged for re-evaluating the officially prescribed response mechanisms to incidents of this kind which are currently in place. Every country has a slightly different approach, but basically all suffer from over-reliance on prescriptions derived from military practice that do not translate into the civilian realities of the emergency services.