This document highlights health surveillance and health education of chemical workers.
The Chemical Personnel Reliability Program (CPRP) is a management tool used within the army to identify chemical surety (the term encompasses safety, security, and reliability) duty positions and to manage the persons assigned to these positions. It also provides a way to assess the reliability and acceptability of personnel being considered for and assigned to chemical duty positions. Medical surveillance is the systematic collection, analysis, and dissemination of disease data on groups of workers. It is designed to detect early signs of work-related illness. A chemical work site medical program should provide the following surveillance: preplacement screening, periodic medical examinations, and termination examinations. Additional follow-up examinations are required if an individual has been exposed or if a potential exposure has occurred. Engineering and individual protective measures are the primary disease prevention methods; medical screening is a tertiary measure. Heat stress is a constant and potentially severe health threat to the worker in toxicological protective clothing. The combination of exposure to solar radiant energy or enclosed areas with high temperatures, metabolic heat production, and the use of impermeable clothing (which prevents evaporative cooling) place the chemical worker at high risk for heat injury. All personnel entering an area where chemical munitions are stored must recognize and understand the potential hazards to their health and safety associated with chemical agents. Clinics located at depots with a chemical surety mission should have an area designated for the decontamination of exposed patients. Each installation with a chemical surety mission is required to develop detailed plans and procedures to be implemented by the emergency actions community in response to a Chemical (Surety Material) Accident or Incident (CAI). The demilitarization of chemical warfare agents has presented the problem of storing aging munitions presenting a risk of chemical agent exposure. Incineration has been determined to be the process that will safely treat all components of the weapons. However, this method is very controversial and undesirable. 14 references