UK Recovery Handbook for Chemical Incidents

1. UK Recovery Handbookfor Chemical Incidents Alec Dobney Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division (London) Chartered Institute of Environmental Health

2. Overview of the presentation • Real need for UK Recovery Handbook for Chemical Incidents • Recovery and Recovery Working Group • Structure and framework of the handbook (2009-2012) • Chemical selection • Using the handbook – a worked example • Stakeholder involvement

4. World Trade Centre, September 11th 2001(early morning) Image courtesy of the University of Sydney

5. Aviation fuel fireball Image courtesy of the University of Sydney

6. Images courtesy of the University of Sydney

7. Extent of the enormity of ash, dust & debris Image Courtesy of BBC

8. Asbestos Carbon monoxide Metals (e.g. lead, chromium & mercury) Oxides of nitrogen and sulphur Jet fuel Inorganic acids Organic compounds (e.g. dioxins) Organic debris (approx. 100 tonnes) Respirable silica Freon Hydrogen fluoride Phosgene Diesel fumes Particulate matter Biohazards Contaminants potentially present Environmental Health Perspectives 2001, 109; 11;A528 - 536

9. Image Courtesy of BBC

10. Image Courtesy of BBC

11. Facts • 2,993 Fatalities • 6,000 Injured • Fires lasted 50 days • Site clean up took approx. 200 days • [Background levels for some chemicals only possible after 289 days]

12. Image courtesy of US Navy

13. Image courtesy of US Navy

14. Image courtesy of BBC

15. Recovery • Cleaning (common spaces, HVAC systems & residential spaces) • Avoid re- suspension of dust: • Wet wiping methods (using rag or wet mop; avoids re- surfacing of dust) • Wash down workers prior to leaving cordoned off area • Power wash cars, trucks & engines • Occupational monitoring (for asbestos, particulate matter, lead, benzene and dioxin levels) • Counselling services were set-up to deal with the psychological effects of the incident

16. Image Courtesy of BBC

17. The Problem: • How clean is clean? • No comprehensive guidance • Complexity of chemical ‘cocktails’

18. Requirement for: • prompt decision making • to increase preparedness • management options relevant for a wide range of chemical incidents

19. The solution is: UK Recovery Handbook for Chemical Incidents Mirror the UK Handbook for Radiation Incidents http://www.hpa.org.uk/HPA/Publications/Radiation/HPARPDSeriesReports

20. What is the UK Recovery Handbook for Chemical Incidents? • Three year project funded by: • Health Protection Agency • Department Environment Food and Rural Affairs • Department of Environment (NI) • Food Standards Agency • Scottish Government • Home Office

21. Emergency vs. Recovery Phase “The recovery phase should be seen as commencing after the emergency phase (incident) has been contained; although there are no exact boundaries between the two phases. It continues until agreed recovery criteria have been met. The recovery phase may be defined as the process of rebuilding, restoring and rehabilitating the community following an emergency” (RHR, 2010)

22. Management Option: An action intended to reduce or avert the exposure of people to chemical contamination • Protection • Removal • Waste disposal

23. Structure of the Handbook • Divided into 3 parts • Inhabited Areas Buildings, vehicles, roads, parks • Food Production Systems Crops, soil, food products • Water Drinking, recreational, rivers and coastal

24. Structure of Each Part of Handbook Introduction • Objectives • Legislation • Exposure pathways Factors influencing management options • Temporal and spatial factors • Protection of workers • Social, ethical and financial • Waste disposal, environmental impact

25. Inhabited Areas S U B - A R E A S Residential Recreational Non-residential Industrial Outdoor areas Buildings Parks Countryside Woods, forests S U R F A C E S External surfaces Soil, grass and plants Indoor surfaces and objects Trees and shrubs Precious objects Roads & paved areas Specialist surfaces Sub Areas / Surfaces

26. Chemical Classification • Toxicology • Health effects (acute and chronic) • Latency • Physiochemical • Persistency • Transmissibility

27. Using the Handbook Sulphur Mustard (Mustard Gas) example • Chemical warfare agent • Properties • Health effects (Courtesy of MSN Encarta) (Courtesy of www.college.ucla.edu)

28. Sulphur Mustard example • Situation • Small scale hypothetical incident on 1st August • Deliberate release of sulphur mustard into the commercial district of a town (shops and offices) • Area evacuated to distance of 400m

29. Sulphur Mustard example • 1: Identify management options relevant to contaminated surfaces • External building surfaces contaminated • Prohibit public access to non-residential areas • Active decontamination • Adsorption • Washing with hypochlorite bleach • Sandblasting • Snow removal • Demolish buildings

30. Sulphur Mustard example • 2.Eliminate options due to incident characteristics • Snow removal - it’s August! • 3. Eliminate options unlikely to be applicable to sulphur mustard • Demolish buildings- due to persistency of sulphur mustard

31. Sulphur Mustard example • 4: Remaining Options

32. Sulphur Mustard example Category A Moderate / high reduction in exposure Low resource requirements Category B High reduction in exposure High resource requirements Category C Low / moderate reduction in exposure High resource requirements

33. UK Recovery Handbook for Chemical Incidents • How can people get involved • Running a series of stakeholder workshops • Consultations • Expertise of Environmental Health Officers Contact details: alec.dobney@hpa.org.uk nicholas.brooke@hpa.org.uk virginia.murray@hpa.org.uk

34. Thank You Any Questions