HHE Report No. HETA-86-326-1792, Airport Disaster Drill, Clermont Mercy Hospital, Batavia, Ohio.
NIOSH 1987 Apr:9 pages
An evaluation was conducted during an airport disaster drill at the Clermont County Airport, Batavia, Ohio, in response to a request from a trustee of the East Fork Joint Ambulance District (SIC-9224) to evaluate chemical exposures from smoke generating devices. The disaster drill involved seven local fire companies and rescue squads, an air rescue helicopter team, and 40 volunteers to serve as victims. A crashed airplane was represented by a small airplane containing four volunteers. A zinc-chloride smoke generating device, the 5D Smoke Bomb, was used during the drill; several small smoke bombs were also used. Hydrochloric-acid (7647010) and chlorinated hydrocarbon levels were determined in personal air samples collected during the drill. Only a trace of hydrochloric- acid and no chlorinated hydrocarbons were detected in two samples. The author concludes that a hazard did not exist for participants in this disaster drill, although a hazard could exist under certain conditions. Potentially hazardous conditions would include placing a smoke device near volunteers, placing a smoke device in a airplane occupied by unprotected individuals, using several large smoke devices, and using a smoke device indoors. The author recommends that information should be obtained about smoke devices before they are used, and that smoke devices should not be used in an airplane or indoors unless participants use self contained breathing apparatuses.
NIOSH-Author; NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation; HETA-86-326-1792; NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report; Hazard-Unconfirmed; Region-5; Air-contamination; Firemen; Smoke-inhalation; Rescue-workers; Acids; Confined-spaces;
Hazard Evaluation and Technical Assistance;
NTIS Accession No.
Hazard Evaluations and Technical Assistance Branch, NIOSH, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Cincinnati, Ohio, Report No. HETA-86-326-1792, 9 pages, 18 references