Engineering Research Report: Development of a Dry Decontamination Method for Mass Casualty Events – the NIOSH DryCon System

Details

• Personal Author:
  Alexander, Barbara M. ; Merk, Gabriel
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Description:
  This report describes the development of a prototype dry decontamination system (DryCon) for use in the event of a mass casualty incident involving a dusty contaminant. Wet decontamination is currently used almost exclusively in such cases, although it may be infeasible in cold weather, and there may be compliance issues with the requirement to disrobe. During disrobing, dusty contamination could also re-aerosolize, leading to inhalation of contaminants. NIOSH's prototype DryCon system uses air jets for dry decontamination, avoiding some of these drawbacks. The system is portable, and can run on building-supplied or generator power. Multiple casualties can be treated rapidly, one after the other, using this system. DryCon has been tested in a controlled environment, using a manikin and three different types of fabric squares to investigate its effectiveness, with a decontamination time of 60 seconds. At the higher airflow tested, 90% of full blower speed, or approximately 540 cfm, mean decontamination efficiencies of 56.8%, 70.3% and 80.7% were measured for firefighter turnout fabric, cotton denim, and polyester double knit fabric, respectively. Removal of this easily-re-aerosolized contamination helps to protect personnel from further inhalation exposures. The results demonstrate the promise of this technique for use as an alternative to wet decontamination, as a first step before disrobing for wet decontamination, or in an industrial setting for post-work-shift decontamination. Further research will be necessary to prove the effectiveness of this technique in real-world applications.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Dust Emergencies Engineering Environmental Pollution Hazardous Substances Mortality Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety
• Keywords:
  Air Contaminants Control Equipment Control Systems Control Technology Decontamination Dust Control Equipment Dust Particles Dusts Effectiveness Research Emergency Equipment Emergency Response Engineering Control Engineering Controls Environmental Contamination Equipment Testing Fatalities Hazard Controls Hazardous Materials HEPA Filters High-efficiency Particulate Air Filters Humans Particulate Particulates

  More +
• Series:
  Engineering and Physical Hazards Survey Reports
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHEPHB38311a
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology ; EPHB - Engineering and Physical Hazards Branch
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-42
• Contributor:
  Talor, Grace
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057362
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2021-100209
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, EPHB 383-11a, 2019 May ; :1-42
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  922190 - Other Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities - (NAICS)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1c0cdca4381f44eac3315660215cbff6b9f2b6a28bd9f206d650a659123cd5572f01be3808c43cf9e67305bdea0bfc53ce84152da8fe380b84086ca4ed9289ea
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/175043/cdc_175043_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.01 MB ]