Decontamination for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Biological, chemical and radioactive contamination presents a multitude of problems. Decontamination must take place to minimize the effects of these agents on living organisms, and so that the contamination is not spread through transport of either contaminated victims or equipment.

There are many possible options for the number of steps or procedures required during the contamination reduction process. How in-depth the process will be depends on the hazard, the condition of the people or equipment in need of decontamination, and the resources available for performing the contamination reduction process.

In this module, we will cover the concerns of:

• Safety and contamination reduction
• Criteria influencing the selection of where to put the decontamination area
• Criteria for selection of procedures to use in contamination reduction
• Decontamination of individuals requiring emergency medical attention
• Decontamination of large numbers of people
• Decontamination of equipment