HazMat Situational Awareness – Making sense of scent

It is not that we as hazmatters want to smell a chemical agent but that we as professionals better know what it smells like. Besides PPE problems such as suit breakthrough or poorly fitting mask another good reason to have an idea of the scents that are associated with the bad stuff is the valuable information we receive from our witnesses/victims.



Understanding witness statements can be a vital key to helping us safely solve… Continue

Our profession is dangerous. Oddly some often need to remind themselves of this. Many of us are not only HazMat professionals but also EMTs, Paramedics, Firefighters, Company Commanders, Law Enforcement Officers, EH&S Specialists, Lab Safety Specialists, Risk Managers, Confined Space Technicians, USAR Technicians, WMD Specialists, Apparatus Operators, Grief Counselors, Supervisors, Parents, Spouses…. and we are expected to be proficient in many of these duties at the same… Continue

In every AAR (after action review) that I have ever been to, problems with communication ranks in the top three of “what went wrong”.  Often the source of frustration is blamed on equipment or new technology or both.  Despite all contributing factors, the question remains: Is the message ‘sent’ the message ‘received’ as intended?

Training gives us the…

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An estimated 90% of the people that die in confined spaces die because of a toxic environment. Understanding that a 1/2 percent of a drop in Oxygen doesn’t sound like much but it’s 5000 PPM of something. How much of a chemical do you need to be toxic or fatal? Bill Bennett from Safety Systems Inc. in Northern VA reinforces what he teaches in the…

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Under active fire conditions the dangers are extreme and the stakes are high. Upon the declaration of knock-down the fire should be out, victims saved, and acute hazards controlled.

The game is not over. The long term carcinogenic by-products of combustion remain and may even be worse than under active fire conditions. When overhaul begins think of it…

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