General Air Monitoring/ SCHMT Monitoring Equip. Working to meet established Hazmat Team Goals:

Transcription

1 Air Monitoring January Hazmat Training

2 What you Can Expect Today 2 PowerPoints General Air Monitoring/ SCHMT Monitoring Equip. Working to meet established Hazmat Team Goals: SCHMT Goal #2 Implement a more comprehensive and frequent training program for hazmat techs and ops personnel. 1.5 hours Air Monitoring Training After that you can throw me out on my ear if you aren't learning anything HMT JPRs 4B; 4C Leave you with Hazmat Ops training to teach to your crew SCHMT Goal #5 Enhance the service delivery of the hazmat program within Summit County Better working knowledge of our equipment through Training

3 Objectives Review and discuss air monitoring Review air monitoring order and the reason for the order Review the following types of air monitoring devices and their usage: Radiation Detection PH paper Combustible Gas Indicators Electrochemical sensors Photoionization detectors Perform effective monitoring

4 Why We Monitor Hazards We must identify atmospheric hazards to operate Our operational safety The Law Says we Must Specifically 29 CFR says (6) Monitoring. The following monitoring shall be conducted during initial site entry when the site evaluation produces information that shows the potential for ionizing radiation or IDLH conditions, or when the site information is not sufficient reasonably to eliminate these possible conditions: (i) Monitoring with direct reading instruments for hazardous levels of ionizing radiation. (ii) Monitoring the air with appropriate direct reading test equipment for IDLH and other conditions that may cause death or serious harm. (iii) Visually observing for signs of actual or potential IDLH or other dangerous conditions. (iv) An ongoing air monitoring program shall be implemented after site characterization has determined the site is safe for the start-up of operations. In English; legislation says that monitoring must occur when radiation or IDLH is present or suspected and must continue to assure the site is safe Since FDs and SCHMT are the DERA this responsibility falls to us until a public hazard no longer exists and private contractors can take over

5 Atmosphere Hazard Roundup These Hazards include: Radiation Corrosives O² deficient/rich Flammable/explosives Acute Toxics Chronic Toxics Carcinogenic Biological/Etiological agents

6 Monitoring Activities Several types of monitoring functions Perimeter monitoring Primarily used for public safety Entry recon monitoring Used to figure out the problem/nature of release Periodic hot zone monitoring Designed to assure the hazard remains stable Decon verification monitoring Decon process is working/things are clean Safety verification monitoring Hazard is mitigated/ how much clean up is needed

7 Monitoring Success Key factors help determine monitoring success: Training and frequent familiarization with equipment is the key to safety Frequent inspection for battery life/ other maintenance issues Proper storage and maintenance of monitoring equipment assures that all equipment functions properly Knowing the limitations of your monitoring device All monitors have limitations Techs must know what the limitations are and how to over come them in the field. Cross Sensitivity is a major issue across electro chemical monitors We must be familiar with Cross sensitivity issues and what they can cause in our monitoring

8 Cross Sensitivity Cross Sensitivity is detection of similar chemicals that the sensor is not intended This normally results in a false positive reading such as: Carbon monoxide (CO) sensor may respond significantly to hydrogen, ethylene, and isobutylene. Similarly, O₂ ₂ sensors can go high in the presence of oxidizers, ozone chlorine and other halogen gases due to their similarities Single product sensors are more likely to produce a false reading in the presence of similar chemicals Be aware of this issue and be ready to do some detective work with any reading especially if readings don t seem right.

9 The Monitoring Process Monitoring must quickly identify hazards on incidents Technicians must be able to accurately interpret results of monitoring Technicians must also follow Guidelines set forth by SCHMT SOG #307 Chemical Identification

10 Unknown vs. Known Unknown incidents present a far greater challenge than known incidents Technicians must maintain a high degree of suspicion when faced with unknown chemical incidents As much chemical monitoring as possible must be used until chemical class can be identified or ruled out ERG 111 is the place to start for unknown hazards

11 Monitoring Order In UNKNOWN incident scene a monitoring order should be considered based on hazard or suspicion of Radiation Corrosive Oxygen Flammable Toxicity Monitoring order is nice, but is wishful thinking w/o staffed hazmat team You and your crew will be there first so respond with caution

12 Radiation Radiation comes in several varieties: Alpha, Beta Gama, and X Ray radiation Ionizing radiation is harmful and travels over long distances prompting the determination that radiation should be monitored first Monitoring requires specialized equipment we only carry on HM-2 If you have a high index of suspicion that radiation is involved; reducing exposure TIME for is the key for a rescue operation Otherwise DISTANCE and SHEILDING are the answer until things are made more clear

13 Corrosive Corrosive atmospheres include both acids and basic materials Monitored 2 nd due to the destructive nature and reactivity of corrosive atmospheres Acidic 0*1*2*3*4*5*6 *7* 8*9*10*11*12*13*14 Basic Every change in the scale is logarithmic meaning the intensity of the corrosiveness increases/decreases by a factor of 10x Most easily monitored using PH paper that changes color To air monitor, ½ paper is wetted w/ distilled water to increase paper sensitivity/longevity Paper color changes bases on the corrosive nature of the material Fluorine Paper Uses colored paper to detect hazardous fluorides in air Both PH and Fluorine test strips can be taped to SCBA masks using kits recently put in service in each apparatus

14 Oxygen Identify the amount of O₂ in the atmosphere Sensors can have cross sensitivity issues and can be inaccurate based on calibration Newer sensors advise when bump or calibration testing is needed 19.5% to 22.5% is the NIOSH respiratory protection standard for measured O₂ levels Too low will not support life and lets us know something is off Too high creates a flammable atmosphere Pure O₂ levels killed 3 Apollo 1 Astronauts in a 17 second launch pad fire thought to be caused by an electrical arc and fueled by Velcro (1/27/1967)

15 Why is O₂ Percentage is Off?? O₂ concentration is a good indicator in a hazmat incident. It gives us clues that unknown things are going on; 2 Possibilities: O₂ ₂ is being used up. Rusting in a closed metal tank Other gases/chemicals could be crowding out the air (Displacement) Knowing our O² is not right we can gather other info through deductive reasoning

16 Determining Atmospheres We can determine the concentration of other gas by simple math. Atmosphere = 20% O² or 1/5 th with the other 4/5 th or 80% being Nitrogen and other gases If O² drops by 1% the atmosphere actually dropped by 5% (.05) So on a call you get a reading of if an 18.7 % O² with no other hazardous gases you can assume what.. ( = 2.2%) 2.2x.05=.11 or 11% 18.7% in this situation 11% of the atmosphere is filled with your hazardous gas

17 Converted from % to an IDLH We are use to seeing bad things in ppm or our IDLH readings that the books show us But O₂ is measured in percent of atmosphere % by volume is 10,000 ppm Yet a greater ppm of the atmosphere is being displaced 0.1% drop is 1000 ppm of O₂ monitor 5000 ppm overall 1000ppm O₂ (20%) = 4000ppm Nitrogen (80%) So the 11% O₂ change from the previous problem is 110,000 ppm of possible IDLH atmosphere Our O₂ sensor can tell us a lot when we have little to go on

18 Flammability Combustible Gas Indicators (CGI) are designed to detect gas/vapor below its LEL Many utilize catalytic beads that convert collected gas into electricity across a circuit The gas molecule oxidizes on the heated catalyzed metal surface Just like the Catalytic Converter that collects pollutants in your car This lowers the LEL and creates an electrical charge that is read as a percentage of the LEL This allows us to see a broad range of flammable gases before they reach their LELs and become unsafe

19 LEL Monitoring CGIs are normally calibrated with Methane to create as broad a spectrum as possible for all flammable gasses CGIs report in % of LEL; not % in volume of air. Summit County Fire Depts. utilizes QRAE II 4 gas monitors that includes a CGI (more on that in later slides)

20 Toxicity A wide range of instruments are used for detection of toxic hazmat Electrochemical Sensors Chemical reaction across an electrode measures chemicals in PPM Our QRAEII 4 gas meters are electrochemical Photoionization Detectors (PIDs) use an ultraviolet lamp to ionize the target PIDs strip an electron off of a chemical at a specified rate This rate is called the ionization potential and is found in many common hazmat publications

21 PIDs and VOCs Photoioniztion detectors (PIDs) are used to detect Volatile Organic Compounds or VOCs VOCs are a large group of carbon-based chemicals that easily evaporate at room temperature. While most people can smell high levels of some VOCs, other VOCs have no odor. PIDs cannot detect specific chemicals only the VOC classification. Like an LEL monitor PIDs show a whole class of materials only the measurements are made in ppm PIDs are useful in determining that something is in the air and that a Hot Zone should be established.

22 VOCs In Our Lives Each chemical has its own toxicity and potential for causing different health effects. There are thousands of different VOCs produced and used in our daily lives. New carpet smell ect. Some common examples include: Acetone, Benzene, Ethylene glycol, Formaldehyde, Methylene chloride, Perchloroethylene, Toluene, Xylene These VOCs are often unknown smells in homes or indoor spaces that crews run on from time to time Minnesota Department of Health

23 Toxicity Cont. Ion Mobility Spectroscopy (IMS) Designed for toxic industrial chemicals and toxic industrial materials Utilized for initial responders for WMD and Drug Enforcement Ionizes samples radioactively generating a specific signature

24 Conclusion This has been a generalized discussion of air monitoring We have discussed Why we monitor What we monitor And the order we monitor in. Now we must look at our specific equipment and how we use it to meet these goals