Chemical risks in emergency departments

PREVOR’s decontamination solutions are dedicated to the industry sectors to be used according to the right protocol enabling victims not to have any chemical injuries following chemical accidents involving corrosives and/or irritants.

However, after having seen case reports from different emergency departments, we have noticed that our decontamination solutions still have an interest to be used in the case of a delayed washing (contact time greater than 1 minute). Indeed, a clinical study carried out in a hospital setting has shown the advantages of even delayed washing with DIPHOTERINE® solution for the management of ocular chemical burns combined with a therapeutic protocol aimed at reducing inflammation and at preventing infection while encouraging healing.

“ Our decontamination solutions still have an interest to be used in the case of a delayed washing ”

Many emergency departments can have to face chemical accidents. In the case of a this specific accident, the intervention time represents the most decisive thing for minimizing the injuries, but also the decontamination solution used. Therefore, we can easily understand that not only hospital should be equipped with an effective decontamination solution, but also emergency vehicles.

In the emergency vehicles

Ambulances and fire brigade teams are the first people to arrive on the place of the accident. In the case of a chemical accident, they do not always know the chemical they have to deal with. In this typical case, being equipped with a solution that is capable to stop the aggressiveness of all types of corrosives and irritants is a great advantage. In emergency vehicle the space is optimized as much as possible. Therefore, portable equipment is then more suitable.

Mobile Chemical intervention unit is another vehicle that can be requisitioned. Among others, their missions consist in looking after chemical contamination, such as industrial or chemical transport accidents.

At the hospital

At the hospital, several departments can be concerned by victims of chemical injuries such as the emergency department, the burns unit, the eyes department. Victims of chemical accidents can come from the industry, from home, such as people or children who experienced a domestic chemical accident, or even chemical assaults which are more and more frequent.

If victims are directly driven to the hospital, not by emergency vehicles, the first department which looks after them is the emergency service. If the wounds are serious, specialists are then needed, and patients are transferred to the burns unit or the eyes department. However, sometimes victims are directly transferred to burns or eyes services. This is the reason why it is necessary to have chemical decontamination solutions in all of these services even if they are located in the same hospital.

Besides, laboratories use chemicals for analysis which also represent a chemical risk such as immunology and anatomo pathology laboratories.