Personal Protective Equipment for Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Hazards

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is critical for those dealing with toxic, infectious, and radioactive materials. An easily accessible guide for professionals and researchers in all PPE fields, this book takes a fresh look at how PPE is designed, selected, and used in today's emergency response environment where users may need to be protected against deliberately used chemical, biological, or radiological agents in terrorism or warfare scenarios as well as more traditional hazards. Covering the physics, chemistry, and physiology of these hazards, the book explains how PPE protects from various forms of hazards as well as how to use this information to select PPE against these highly hazardous substances for first responder or military users. The design of PPE and components plus relevant performance and evaluation standards are also discussed.

EVA F. Gudgin Dickson, PhD, has worked in chemical, biological, and radiological protection for some twenty years. She is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Royal Military College of Canada and a Defence Scientist with Defence Research and Development Canada. Dr. Dickson heads a diverse group of scientists, engineers, and students who research the requirements, standards, and evaluation of chemical, biological, and radiological protective equipment as well as design new equipment. She has received three Technical Cooperation Programme Achievement Awards and the Canadian Standards Association Award of Merit.