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Exposure Levels for Chemical Threat Compounds; Information to Facilitate Chemical Incident Response...

by Veronique Hauschild, Annetta P Watson
Publication Type
Journal
Journal Name
Journal of Emergency Management
Publication Date
Page Numbers
355 to 384
Volume
11
Issue
5

Exposure Standards, Limits and Guidelines for Chemical Threat Compunds

ABSTRACT

Exposure criteria for chemical warfare (CW) agents and certain toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) used as CW agents (such as chlorine fill in an improvised explosive device) have been developed for protection of the civilian general public, civilian employees in chemical agent processing facilities and deployed military populations. In addition, compound-specific concentrations have been developed to serve as “how clean is clean enough” clearance criteria guiding facility recovery following chemical terrorist or other hazardous release events. Such criteria are also useful to verify compound absence, identify containment boundaries and expedite facility recovery following chemical threat release.

There is no single “right” value or concentration appropriate for all chemical hazard control applications. It is acknowledged that locating and comparing the many sources of CW agent and TIC exposure criteria has not been previously well-defined. This paper summarizes many of these estimates and assembles critical documentation regarding their derivation and use.