How Clean Is Safe?

The United States Air Force (USAF) possesses some limited capabilities to decontaminate equipment, personnel, casualties and aircraft. Current policies, though, do not specify the levels to which chemical warfare agents must be removed from aircraft and equipment. The increased threat of chemical warfare heightens the need for an Air Force policy on the certification of contaminated equipment, aircraft, and casualties returning from a forward area. This decontamination policy must encompass both a set of cleanliness standards that specify safe concentrations of chemical agents and a description of how the Air Force will use these standards. This report provides AF/XONP with a view of the past and current efforts concerning the question of how clean is safe enough to protect the different populations of concern for the Air Force policy on the certification of chemically contaminated casualties, equipment, and aircraft returning from a forward area. It then recommends cleanliness standards and a decontamination policy and suggests an implementation timeline. The results of this study came from a six month investigation of the past, current, and future studies to determine harmful levels of chemical warfare agents; the technical capabilities for detection and decontamination; the regulatory agency decontamination or toxicity level policies; and the issues of concern for the Air Force.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH is the author of 'How Clean Is Safe?', published 2000 under ISBN 9781423533924 and ISBN 1423533925.