Publicado el Deja un comentario

Nuclear #3, Radiologic Risk.

Nowadays, it is common to find NRBQ (Nuclear, Radiologic, Biologic, Chemical) teams among emergency services.

To achieve success it is very important to train a lot and to have a deep knowledge of this kind of risks.

Today, in this post, I am going to talk about radiologic risk and its Spanish legislation, which is written by the Nuclear Authority in Spain (Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear).

 

Emergency groups

The first point to consider it is how to identify the teams which are going to manage the emergency. The NRBQ emergency teams are not going to do recuperation works, their target is the security of the citizens and save their lives (in Spain).

We can find the max level of exposition for the emergency teams  in the RD 1564/2010. Moreover CSN (Nuclear Security Board) advertised a technic guide to inform how to apply that legislation.

Group 1

Urgent actions in the accident place.

(Save lives, prevent serious injury or prevent a worsening of the accident that could result insignificant doses to the public)

The director of the emergency, through the radiological group, makes every effort to keep the dose levels of the staff below the level of occurrence of severe deterministic health effects included in Annex Table VI.5 VI.

International recommendations by the CSN  recommended to the Spanish Regions a max value of  dose for this group in 500 mSv. Exceptionally, and to save human lives may exceed these values.

The people who will do these jobs could receive higher dose limits for exposed workers laid down in RPSRI * so  they must be informed, trained and volunteers and it should be excluded pregnant women.

However, Table 5.5 of the CSN technical guide collects quantitative radiological criteria for implementing protective measures taken from the International Basic Safety Standars (BSS) of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy) established as a measure of protect medical advice before a new exposure or if the employee so requests in dose limit of 200 mSv.

Group 2

Emergency protection measures and other actions to protect the population.

The emergency director through radiologic group will do all efforts to reduce the dose to the staff during the emergency below max annual dose limit for the exposure in one year requirement  in 50 mSv effective dose by RPSRI.

It has to be taken into account when setting the dosimeters of the staff who will intervene in the emergency.

Emergency zones and intervention development

Very similar to the zones of hazardous material intervention but with different nomenclature and taking into account that the end of one and the beginning of the next is determined by the dose rate.

Urgent measures zone

It is the interior of the bounded zone, in which it is necessary to take certain protective measures to prevent the emergency teams of receiving higher doses than laid down in DBRR for staff intervention group 2 and to prevent the population receive higher doses than the doses established in the intervention levels for urgent protective measures. This area will include the zone where the exposure level exceed 5 mSv / h.

Alert zone

It is the zone in which it is necessary to take protective measures to prevent the population receives doses higher than emergency teams. This area will include the zone where the exposure is expected to exceed 100 mSv / h.

Free zone

Outside the warning area, which is not necessary to apply protective measures because the doses are lower than those established intervention levels . The next figure show the definition of the areas of planning, showing the arrangement of zones and zone criteria apply in both cases.

In the first moments of an emergency you may not have the means to determine the level of exposure around the stage in which it has occurred. In these cases the DBRR provides the following criteria to determine the scope and dimensions of the zones, in open spaces and indoors.
In open spaces:

  • Urgent measures zone will be the circle whose centre is the focus of risk and whose radius is 100 mts.
  • Alert zone is the annulus whose centre is the source of risk and whose inner radius is 100 mts and 200 mts outside.
  • Free zone is outside the Alert Zone.

If you liked the information don’t forget to subscribe and leave your comments.

Publicado el Deja un comentario

woow sos rescue

Have you ever been in an emergency situation?

Nowadays, we have a great variety of tools to manage this easier. In this article I’m going to talk about an android app for this task, this software could be very useful in emergencies situations because it gives us the possibility to known how to manage it and what are the main steps to achieve the success.

 

What is woowRescue?

This is an app for mobile devices which is designed to be an Integrated Emergency System, in areas ranging from healthcare to police matters.

What type of emergency does it detect?

The system can automatically detect accidents involving movement, in cars, motorbikes, buses, etc. This means it can also detect sports accidents. The system can launch the mechanisms needed for effectively monitoring the situation, as well as facilitating healthcare attention, speeding up the response times of the different Emergency Services.

It can also detect when people go missing or get lost, providing valid, sensitive information to police services, maximising the possibility of finding the lost person, or in a worst-case scenario, reconstructing the events leading to their disappearance.

 

How does it work?

The app is installed on any Smartphone (currently Android only), and does not need to be configured by the user to work. It can be active 24 hours a day, constantly monitoring for any possible emergency situations. Everything is designed to work independently and automatically without the active participation of the user.

What problems does the app solve?

The app uses complex mechanisms to detect accidents and disappearances. When it detects an emergency, it can automatically alert the contacts the user has specified as emergency contacts, or the national, provincial, local or any other Emergency Services (*).

As detection is automatic, the emergency alert is sent out at the moment the situation response can save lives and reduce the seriousness of injuries. It also provides sensitive information to police services more quickly, enabling search procedures to be put in place in the case of disappearances.happens, drastically reducing the time between an accident and the arrival of emergency services. This faster response can save lives and reduce the seriousness of injuries. It also provides sensitive information to police services more quickly, enabling search procedures to be put in place in the case of disappearances.

(*) Calls to some Emergency Services cannot be made automatically by Smartphones and require active confirmation by the user. This is due to a security measure implemented by the MANUFACTURERS. We can guarantee these calls will be automatic only in rooted Smartphones or where woowRescue is preinstalled as a system app.

How are the alerts produced?

The app can send alerts via text message, phone call and notifications in the style of messaging programmes.

It includes a very innovative element which allows notifications to be sent to nearby devices whose users have medical expertise, even if they are not known to the app user.

This makes it possible for nearby healthcare personnel to be able to attend the accident victim immediately. If Public Administration decides to take part, it can even send emergency alerts to the nearest ambulance, hospital, or other relevant service.

In the case of disappearances, it sends nearby devices, even if not known to the user, the last known location of the lost person, along with their photograph. This creates a new search method which does not currently exist, where society as a whole takes an active role in the search.

What information is in the notification alerts?

Notifications include a visualisation of the person’s location on a map, their full name, their medical history, a contact phone number, the speed of the accident if relevant, the level of unconsciousness if detected, live access to audio, video and images (*) from the mobile device of the person who needs help, etc.

(*) WOOWAPPS can guarantee only automatic audio recording on all devices. The correct functioning of the other recordings depends on the version and model of Smartphone used.

What information is in the phone alerts?

Emergency alerts via phone call provide: full name, age, ID number, latitude and longitude of the accident, street address, type of emergency, medical history with illnesses, allergies, medication and blood group, speed of accident if relevant, whether the user is unconscious, etc.

What information is in the text alerts?

Emergency text messages are more expensive for users if they are longer, or if they include links, images or any multimedia files, and so our text messages include only the essential information for identifying and finding the user.

All the alert information goes in a single text message, which always contains: the date of the accident, the personal data of the user, the reason for the alert and the location.

What happens if it’s not a real emergency?

Although the system has been developed to make it quite difficult for false accidents or emergencies to be reported, there is a detection method. When the emergency is detected the application vibrates strongly and emits a spoken 30-second countdown, giving the user time to stop the alerts going out. The mobile will vibrate and emit loud sound even in silent mode, as the maximum speaker volume is automatically triggered.

What happens if the user is unconscious after an accident?

The app functions normally. In fact, it was conceived and designed from the start to offer a system which can send out alerts in the most difficult moments, even when the user is unconscious.

In the most extreme cases, the app can speak by itself and communicate verbally with the person receiving the emergency call, giving them information about the accident. The verbal communication is produced by a voice synthesiser installed in the Smartphone, and can be in different languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Italian).

What else can woowRescue do?

Among many options, the system can record audio, images or video during and just after the emergency, and this multimedia content will be accessible to the services receiving the alerts.

The system can identify witnesses to an event, whether an accident, kidnapping, attack, etc.

The app can also identify which people came into contact with a disappeared person, and reconstruct the route taken by a person before they disappeared.

Some typical cases:

A skiing accident can be detected and alerts sent out to contacts and/or the Emergency Services by any or all of the alert methods. This means the user is not left unattended if unconscious, and another person does not need to be present to report the event.

If a child goes suspiciously far from their town or any other location this can be detected and an alert for a possible kidnapping sent out.

The mobile phone of a person with Alzheimer’s can automatically alert family members if the person becomes disoriented and unable to find their way home.

Would you like to get this amazing app?, you can buy it for 9 euros.

Debe tener habilitado JavaScript para poder utilizar este botón de PayPal.

PayPal. La forma rápida y segura de pagar en Internet.