Control measure

Substance identification: Toxic materials

Bookmark Control measure
Download Control measure
Print Control measure
Guidance
Training Specification
NOS
Version History
Feedback
Share Control measure

TRAINING SPECIFICATION

Knowledge and understanding

Control measure element	Learning outcome
Gather information and recognise symbols, labels and other marking to identify toxic materials	Understand: Classification and labelling of toxic materials Signage identifying the presence of toxic materials Triangulation of information to confirm toxic material Refer to – Substance identification – Hazardous materials training specification

Control measure element

Learning outcome

Gather information and recognise symbols, labels and other marking to identify toxic materials

Understand:

Classification and labelling of toxic materials
Signage identifying the presence of toxic materials
Triangulation of information to confirm toxic material

Refer to – Substance identification – Hazardous materials training specification

NOS knowledge and understanding

You need to know and understand:
You need to know and understand - TO BE ARCHIVED 2816
K Safe working practices of your organisation when responding to fire and rescue incidents K Hazards and risks of fire and rescue incidents affecting people, property and the environment K Legislation, policies, procedures, guidelines and protocols that apply to your role K Relevant others you may work with and their role in and responsibilities K How to access and use different sources of information relevant to fire and rescue incidents within your area of expertise
Health and safety
K 3 Safe working practices of your organisation when responding to fire and rescue incidents K 4 Hazards and risks of fire and rescue incidents affecting people, property and the environment
Organisational
K 9 Legislation, policies, procedures, guidelines and protocols that apply to your role
Personal and interpersonal
K 12 Relevant others you may work with and their role in and responsibilities
Technical
K 18 How to access and use different sources of information relevant to fire and rescue incidents within your area of expertise

Practical application

Control measure element	Learning outcome
Gather information and recognise symbols, labels and other marking to identify toxic materials	Demonstrate the ability to: Use signs, labels and markings to identify the presence of toxic materials Identify and interpret toxic materials incident information and where appropriate use detection equipment Use specialist advice to identify toxic materials information Refer to – Substance identification – Hazardous materials training specification

Control measure element

Learning outcome

Gather information and recognise symbols, labels and other marking to identify toxic materials

Demonstrate the ability to:

Use signs, labels and markings to identify the presence of toxic materials
Identify and interpret toxic materials incident information and where appropriate use detection equipment
Use specialist advice to identify toxic materials information

Refer to – Substance identification – Hazardous materials training specification

You must be able to:
Provide special advice to control fire and rescue incidents
P 1 Gather information for fire and rescue incidents within your area of expertise in line with your organisation's procedures P 2 Identify and maintain awareness of risk for fire and rescue incidents within your area of expertise in line with risk assessment processes

Control measure knowledge

This control measure should be read in conjunction with National Operational Guidance – Hazardous materials: Substance identification.

Ensuring that personnel immediately recognise the presence or potential presence of substances with toxic health hazards will enable suitable control measures to be implemented to protect responders and the public particularly in the initial stages of an incident.

Materials with the primary hazard of ‘toxic’ (other than toxic gases) will be assigned to UN Hazard Class 6.1. It covers substances that possess a low lethal dose.

Labelling

Materials labelled for transport or use will be displayed with one of the following symbols:

The exclamation mark symbol is used for other hazards in addition to ‘harmful’ (e.g. irritant).

UN Transport Class 2.3 is for toxic gases only, such as ammonia, chlorine or hydrogen chloride.

As well as labelling on containers, other information sources will enable other toxic/harmful hazards to be identified, such as Chemdata, Wiser and the Emergency Response Guidebook.

Information gained from containers or data sources should be compared with other information from the scene (such as signs and symptoms from casualties) to triangulate the information and increase confidence.

Strategic actions

Fire and rescue services should:

Have procedures and support arrangements with regard to recognising toxic substances and how to protect people from acute health effects

Tactical actions

Incident commanders should:

Use signs, labels, markings and container types to identify the presence of toxic materials
Identify the location, physical state (solid, liquid, gas), type, quantity and toxicity of the released material
Use detection equipment to identify and monitor levels of the toxic materials involved

Hazard
Exposure to materials with acute health effects
Control measure
Cordon controls: Toxic materials

Hazardous materials Health hazards

Control measure

Substance identification: Toxic materials

Control measure

Substance identification: Toxic materials

TRAINING SPECIFICATION

Knowledge and understanding

NOS knowledge and understanding

You need to know and understand - TO BE ARCHIVED 2816

Practical application

NOS performance criteria

Control measure knowledge

Strategic actions

Tactical actions