Why No One Talks About Anymore
June 18, 2019
There is an alarming rise in firefighter cancer rates, it’s only proper and important that you take all the necessary procedures to keep yourself, your team, and your department’s individual health in tip top shape. The best way of protecting yourself and your team from harmful carcinogens is through decontamination procedures, these procedures eliminate any carcinogens that might be lying around on the gear, equipment, the station, and fire trucks.
This decontamination procedure requires the use of special equipment and tools required to aid firefighters in decontamination of themselves, their gear and the site.
You can view here for more decontamination info.
The decon equipment and products work well in getting rid of the harmful particles. Firefighters are at greater risk that’s why they are top priority as they are the ones who receive the most exposure inside the fire scene.
It is an important standard operating procedure that firefighters should always decontaminate themselves prior to leaving the fire scene. An example of the decontamination procedures that firefighters perform include getting rid of any harmful particles on their turnout gear, their PPE, and FR clothing; and any residue on their skin or dermal areas. To help with decontamination on site, firefighters are issued decontamination kits and refill supplies. Turnout gear, FR clothing, and PPE cleaning products and sprays as well as decontamination wipes, decon field wipes and other gear such as cleaning hoses and etc are examples of what’s inside these decontamination kits.
Dirt, soot, and grime can easily be removed by your average super market and grocery store baby wipes but when getting rid of metals however, they are highly ineffective as regardless of how hard and intense you wipe down, metals wont just come off as they stick to the skin differently as opposed to how germs and dirt sticks. Intense burning of materials in the fire scene have the tendency of releasing heavy metal oxides that are virtually invisible to the naked eye such as the heating of stainless steel, ceramics, anti-corrosion coatings and chrome will release hexavalent chromium; and burning paint, carpets, and other household items and decorations will release lead oxide. Hygenall is one of the companies that manufacture firefighter decon products, this company manufactures cleaning and decontamination products such as special decontamination wipes, surface cleaners, and soaps that will not only get rid of dirt and grime accumulated from the scene but also more than 99{ab49e96932a4f18f3b16cacf91efda6e8c42e0826f573968c543bb31d90a5760} of the the mentioned heavy metal oxides and other metals such as copper, nickel, mercury, arsenic, and etc.
You can see this website for more information regarding decontamination products for firefighters.