KARACHI, Sept 11: Experts at the National Workshop on Chemical Disaster Management (Health Sector Response) here on Thursday underscored the need for efficient planning and policy implementation to avoid possibility of chemical accidents, in the first place, and more particularly contain its impact on public health.
Addressing the workshop, organized at the National Poison Control Centre of the JPMC, in collaboration with Ministry of Health and WHO, they said the development and progress made in various fields also had its associated risks, making it necessary to have adequate contingency plan to counter related emergencies with severe impact on public health and ambience.
They warned that inefficient handling or delayed impact may allow the situation to persist even for years, hence making it necessary to have guidelines to tackle chemical emergencies.
Technical Officer, Environmental Health, WHO Dr. Amir E. Johri, reminded that chemical accidents refer to an event resulting in the release of a substance or substances hazardous to human health.
It may be equally precarious to the environment in long or short term, he said referring to incidents, such as fires, explosions, leakages, spills or releases of toxic substances that can cause illness among people, injure them or render them disable or death.
Mentioning that health outcomes of chemical disasters may be local in nature as broncho-constriction, irritation of skin and eyes; or systemic as CNS depression, liver necrosis and or effect on mental health, they said the conditions to determine the impact include toxicity, duration, exposure and exposure routes.
“Susceptibility of people enhances with increased absorption, increased effects with equally absorbed doses and lower threshold of effects,” Dr. Johri said.
Confirmation regarding existence of a chemical emergency; identification of the chemical characteristics, their source of release, type, size, location and distribution; ascertaining population at risk and local health response capacity assessment were enumerated as certain guidelines for chemical emergencies.
Chief fire officer, City District Government, Karachi, Kazim Ali in his presentation on “Hazardous incidents and problems of the city fire service” discussed transportation of dangerous goods and relevant regulations to minimize associated hazards.
According to him, there was a dire need to formulate national laws to minimise the dangers as per international standards, ultimately providing the society a cover of protection.
The speaker also maintained that besides technical dimension of the contribution made by the fire department in minimising the damage, there is also the crucial aspects of its legitimacy in terms of law implementation.
If the concerned agencies are not legally determined to inform the fire department about the transportation and placement of such hazardous goods, it would be impossible for the department to eliminate the possible damages.
He also suggested the need for setting up of decontamination and spill control units in each of the fire stations.
No storage or transportation through residential areas was also recommended alongwith suggestion that standardised drums and containers be used in transportation and storage of intoxicant chemicals.
The vehicles used for transportation of the hazardous chemicals must be marked with appropriate signs and equipped with dry chemical powder fire extinguisher.
The session was also addressed by Prof. Kazi Abdul Shakoor, JPMC Director, Dr. Jamal Ara, National WHO Coordinator, Dr. Aftab Turabi, Provincial WHO Coordinator, Sindh and Dr. M. Asif Durrani.—APP