Synthetic Opioids in Operational Environments – Part II: Decontamination


surface contamination to a non- detectable level. Select the appropriate oxidising decontaminant solution to decontaminate areas where there is bulk material, or where trace material was thought to be, present. A variety of oxidising decontamination solutions are available6


, each with its own benefits


and challenges (see Table 1). Be sure to keep hypochlorite and dichloroisocyanuric acid solutions separate as they can react violently when mixed. For peracetic acid-based solutions,


studies have shown that the decontamination solution should stay in place for a minimum of 10 minutes for bulk contamination and at least five minutes for trace contamination prior to removal.3


Note that the contact times


are determined based upon residual material on a surface. If bulk material remains, required contact times will increase and volumes of decontamination solution should be increased to ensure that the decontamination solution can penetrate through the materials. The selection of suitable criteria for


what is clean and for re-occupancy should also be determined prior to starting decontamination. Unlike with methamphetamines there is, unfortunately, little information available about suitable reoccupancy criteria after decontamination, so you should seek assistance from your local public health unit. All personnel should be appropriately protected when carrying out decontamination. The complexity of decontaminating surfaces is highlighted in a recent case.


1.


December 2017: 25-30. 2.


In November 2017 a 69-year-old woman’s death in Pennsylvania was believed to have been due to lethal opioid exposure while cleaning up after her 45-year-old son’s overdose the previous day.7


community to decontaminate these scenes prior to allowing reoccupation. It is important to consult your local public health unit prior to such activities. Based on the current state of


This highlights a number


of issues including what is clean and what is a suitable health-based reoccupancy value especially for sites where there are sensitive populations, like children. As similar incidents become more prevalent, it will likely fall upon the emergency response


knowledge regarding suitable decontaminants for situations as described above, the following table summarises the decontamination guidance provided. Green represents suitable solutions, yellow represents potential solutions and red represents solutions that should not be attempted.


Table 1. Decontamination solutions for synthetic opioids


Cutaneous Permeability of Fentanyl and Sufentanil, Pharmaceutical Research, 7(8): 842-847. 3.


4.


Fentanyl. Clin Pharmokokinet, 38: 59-89. 5.


EnviroTech White Paper. 6.


Baxter, C and Logan, M (2017) Synthetic Opioids in Operational Environments – Part I: Detection, CBRNe World, Roy, S and Flynn, G (1990) Transdermal Delivery of Narcotic Analgesics; pH, Anatomical, and Subject Influences on Durnal, E and Kelsey, P (2017) Fentanyl HCl Decontamination Study, MRI Global Project No 311493.


Hypochlorites. Defence Science Journal, 61(1): 30-35. 7.


Grond, S, Radbruch, L, and Lehman, K (2000) Clinical Pharmacokinetics of Transdermal Opioids: Focus on Transdermal Donabed, J, Harvey, M, and Howarth, J (2016) The Effects of pH Adjustment on Peracetic Acid Vapor Production. Qi, L, Cheng, Z, Zuo, G, Li, S, and Fan, Q (2011) Oxidative Degradation of Fentanyl in Aqueous Solutions of Peroxides and Fox News (2017) Woman Dies After Cleaning up Son’s Fatal Drug Overdose, Coroner Says (http://www.foxnews.com/


health/2017/11/15/woman-dies-after-cleaning-up-sons-fatal-drug-overdose-coroner-says.html) CBRNe Convergence, Orlando, USA, 6-8 November 2018 www.cbrneworld.com/convergence2018 28 CBRNe WORLD February 2018 www.cbrneworld.com


CBRNeWORLD


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68