First aid for exposure to hazardous chemicals

Poisonous chemicals (OHV) or emergency chemically hazardous substances (AHOV) are extremely dangerous for human health and life. They usually enter the human body by inhalation from the air. Some of them are so strong that they can lead to the death of an infected person almost instantly, while only a few milligrams of a dangerous substance will be enough.

What are hazardous chemicals? How to provide first aid for poisoning? What symptoms indicate damage to the body of AHOV? The answers to these and many other questions can be found by reading the article below.

What are OHV and AHOV, causes of poisoning

AHOV, or emergency chemically hazardous substances, are such chemical compounds that, when released into the environment, cause massive damage to people, death of animals, contamination of air, plants, soil and water. Every year, with a high rate of development of industrial potential, there are more and more such substances. And any accident in production associated with the use of emergency hazardous chemicals can turn into a man-made disaster.

OHV can be divided into several groups that differ from each other in the degree of toxicity: extremely toxic, highly toxic, highly toxic, low toxic, moderately toxic and practically non-toxic.

The most dangerous toxic chemicals include hydrocyanic acid, phosgene, cyanogen chloride, acrylonitrile, chloropicrin, ammonia, carbon disulfide, chlorine, and methyl bromide.

Particularly distinguished among them are pesticides designed to control pests and weeds in agriculture.

Some of these substances are found in many detergents, solvents, paints and other household chemicals.

Hazardous chemicals that can lead to mass poisoning of people, having high toxicity and the ability to turn into a dangerous damaging state in emergency situations, are classified as emergency hazardous chemicals.

In fact, such substances used in the industrial or agricultural sphere, in the event of an accidental release, can lead to significant environmental pollution, in concentrations that are detrimental to living organisms.

AHOV, according to its effect on the human body, it is customary to divide into several groups:

1. Substances that have a suffocating effect. These include: sulfur chloride, phosgene, chlorine, hydrazine, chloropicrin, phosphorus trichloride.
2. Substances that have a general toxic effect: hydrocyanic acid, ethylene chlorohydrin, carbon monoxide, acrolein, dinitrophenol, arsenic hydrogen and dinitroorthocresol.
3. Substances that have a general poisonous asphyxiating effect. The most famous of them are: hydrogen sulfide, acrylonitrile, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
4. Neurotropic substances that have a negative effect on the transmission and generation of nerve impulses. Of these stand out: ethylene oxide, methyl mercaptan, organophosphorus compounds and carbon disulfide.
5. Substances that simultaneously have both neurotropic and suffocating effects. These include: methyl bromide, ammonia, methyl chloride, hydrobromic acid, acetonitrile.
6. Substances that can lead to metabolic disorders: dioxin, dimethyl sulfate and formaldehyde.

Hazardous substances enter the human body in several ways: through the digestive tract, through the mucous membranes, through the skin and respiratory organs. Once inside, they destroy vital organs and contribute to the disruption of many body systems, thereby creating a serious danger to human life.

Poisoning caused by such elements is divided into subacute, acute, and chronic. An acute lesion is considered to be such a lesion in which intoxication begins several hours, and sometimes minutes, after the entry of toxins into the human body.

Symptoms of exposure to hazardous chemicals

Depending on which group the chemical belongs to, its clinical signs will appear.

For substances of the first group, the following symptoms are characteristic:

• pain and burning in the eyes, profuse lacrimation;
• sharp pains in the chest, greatly aggravated by coughing;
• increased salivation;
• attacks of dry choking cough, sometimes with bloody sputum;
• severe shortness of breath, respiratory failure, development of pulmonary edema.

The second group is characterized by the following features:

• shortness of breath;
• diarrhea, nausea and vomiting;
• tinnitus;
• pressing headaches, dizziness;
• a sharp decrease in blood pressure;
• fast and weak pulse.

In case of poisoning with substances of the third group, the following clinical picture is observed:

• shortness of breath, bouts of dry suffocating cough;
• severe diarrhea;
• metallic taste in the mouth;
• loss of consciousness, up to the onset of coma;
• nausea and profuse vomiting;
• increased pallor of the skin;
• intestinal colic, sharp pain in the abdomen;
• cardiopalmus;
• in severe cases, death.

The fourth group shows the following symptoms:

• headaches, dizziness;
• disturbances of consciousness;
• profuse lacrimation;
• convulsive syndromes;
• the appearance of hallucinations;
• nausea and vomiting;
• deep coma.

For the fifth group, the following manifestations are most characteristic:

• profuse salivation and lacrimation;
• blurred vision or its complete loss;
• burns on the skin or mucous membranes;
• suffocating attacks of coughing;
• loss of consciousness;
• coma.

The last, sixth group of substances is characterized by the presence of the following clinical signs:

• lack of urination;
• a sharp and significant drop in blood pressure;
• tachycardia;
• violation of respiratory activity;
• the presence of seizures;
• abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting;
• diarrhea;
• coma.

Rendering first aid in case of damage to OHV

In such cases, first aid should be provided by a person in close proximity to the victim. At the same time, it is necessary to understand that a person’s life depends on the coherence and speed of action, so there is no time left for worries and panic.

First aid measures for exposure to hazardous chemicals include:

1. Remove the victim to fresh air. At the same time, you need to take care of your own safety. Before entering the contaminated premises, it is necessary to soberly assess the situation, and if in this situation your life may be in danger, you must provide rescue work by a professional and not put yourself at risk. If you can get the injured person out into the air without much risk to your own health, put on a gas mask or respirator and proceed to rescue.
2. It is necessary to urgently call the Ministry of Emergency Situations and an ambulance, after reporting what happened and naming the approximate number of injured people.
3. If the victim is conscious, it is necessary to give him clean water or sweet tea to drink. Try to calm the person by washing their face with cool water.
4. If chemicals come into contact with the skin or mucous membranes, rinse the affected area with running water for at least fifteen minutes.
5. Give the victim absorbent substances that help relieve intoxication, relieve diarrhea and nausea.
6. If the victim is unconscious, it is necessary to lay him on a flat surface and provide oxygen access, turning his head to one side. To improve cerebral circulation and heart function, you need to raise the victim’s legs. If there is no pulse or breathing, cardiopulmonary resuscitation should be performed.

When an ambulance arrives, the medical team provides first aid, which manifests itself in:

• using an oxygen mask;
• normalization of the cardiovascular and respiratory system with the help of medications;
• the introduction of infusion solutions that relieve intoxication;
• processing and washing of the skin, directly involved in contact with chemicals;
• carrying out symptomatic therapy;
• carrying out cardiopulmonary resuscitation in case of clinical death.

After these actions, the victim is taken to the intensive care unit or toxicology department for further treatment.

How is poisoning with hazardous chemicals treated?

Therapy is necessarily carried out exclusively in the hospital. The duration of treatment depends on the severity of the disease and the condition of the patient. Such therapy includes:

• connecting the patient to oxygen;
• the introduction of antidotes;
• hemodialysis;
• setting droppers;
• administration of drugs intramuscularly or intravenously;
• treatment of the skin with chemical burns, with severe lesions of large areas of the skin, the patient is transplanted in a state of medical coma;
• carrying out inhalations with moisturizing and healing preparations.

In cases of severe poisoning, complications may occur that require surgical intervention. These include: internal bleeding, the development of acute pancreatitis and others.

Summing up

Poisoning with dangerous chemicals entails a serious danger to human life and health. In severe cases, this can even lead to death. With timely therapy, recovery occurs quickly enough. Otherwise, as well as with self-medication, serious complications can develop, leading to unpleasant and unpredictable consequences.