How Do I Know?

An incident involving chemical warfare agents is a unique hazmat event. As with any hazmat event, federal regulations prescribe that responders must be protected from exposure to the chemical agents. But unlike other hazmat events, special considerations govern selection of personal protective equipment (PPE) like clothing, respirators and monitoring devices used in responding to a release. To further complicate matters, PPE that is used may differ depending on whether responders are military or civilian personnel.

Historically, most United States communities, emergency managers and responders have had no reason to become familiar with the considerations that go into making chemical warfare agent-related PPE decisions. Today, however, with concern growing over domestic vulnerability to terrorist activities, that picture is changing. People want to know how to protect themselves and others if they are faced with the need to deal with this particular weapon of mass destruction.

FEMA, through its role in the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP), a community emergency preparedness program spawned by the existence of domestic stockpiles of aged chemical warfare agents and the Department of Defense's plans to destroy them has developed a wide variety of materials addressing the multi-faceted issues associated with PPE. How Do I Know? is a video that describes and illustrates the testing and evaluation that went into assessing PPE available for use by emergency responders and addresses federal regulatory requirements that have helped shape CSEPP emergency responder operations. It compliments "A Guide to the Selection of Personal Protective Equipment for Responding to a Release of Chemical Warfare Agents".This Guide contains a collection of information sheets dealing with PPE that were prepared for use in CSEPP technical training courses on PPE, decontamination procedures and medical care of chemical casualties.