NFPA 472: Standard for Professional Competence of Responders to Hazardous Materials Incidents, 2002 Edition

Essential guidance for first responders dealing with terrorist activities and weapons of mass destruction.

Revised for 2002, NFPA 472 identifies the levels of competence required of responders to hazardous materials incidents. It specifically covers the competencies for first responders at the awareness level and the operational level, hazardous materials technicians, incident commanders, hazardous materials branch officers, hazardous materials branch safety officers, and other specialist employees. This edition places new emphasis on response to incidents resulting from...

General criminal/terrorist activities:

• Anticipating potential targets for criminal/terrorist activity
• Indicators of general activity to watch for
• Actions to take when criminal/terrorist activity is suspected
• Preserving evidence at incidents
• Items to cover in a safety briefing

Specialized weapons of mass destruction:

• Health risks of chemical/biological warfare agents
• Chemical agent indicators of criminal/terrorist activity
• Biological agent indicators
• Tools for detecting and identifying warfare agents
• Limitations of military chemical/biological protective clothing
• Assessing responder risk for each class of rescue
• Decontaminating large numbers of people

Radioactive materials:

• Understanding the types of radiation and radiation terms
• Health hazards of different types of radiation
• Recognizing radioactive materials packaging
• Measuring radiation
• Understanding the effects of time, distance, and shielding from radiation
• Controlling the spread of radioactive contamination
• A new annex on competencies for the technician with a radioactive material specialty