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In light of recent reports on the possibility of a dirty bomb attack, it’s important to review basic precautions and know what steps to take in the event of an actual attack.

First, assume that ANY explosion may include radiological or chemical agents.

Do not approach the area of a blast. Even if radiological or chemical agents are not present, terrorists often use a secondary device to kill and injure emergency personnel arriving on scene.

You can expect contamination from the explosion and dispersed radioactive materials in the immediate area and downwind from the blast. Radiation cannot be seen, smelled, felt, or tasted by humans. Therefore, if people are present at the scene of an explosion from a suspected dirty bomb, they will not know whether radioactive materials were involved at the time of the explosion. If people are not too severely injured by the initial blast,they should:

Leave the immediate area on foot immediately. Do not panic. Do not take public or private transportation such as buses, subways, or cars because if radioactive materials were involved, they may contaminate cars or the public transportation system.

If the wind is blowing toward you from the direction of the blast, travel in a direction that is crosswise or perpendicular to the wind as you move away from the blast area. If possible cover your face with a dust mask, cloth or piece of clothing to avoid inhaling potentially radioactive dust.

Go inside the nearest building. Staying inside will reduce people’s exposure to any radioactive material from a dirty bomb that may be on dust at the scene.

Remove your clothes as soon as possible, place them in a plastic bag, and seal it. Removing clothing will remove most of the contamination caused by external exposure to radioactive materials. Saving the contaminated clothing would allow testing for exposure without invasive sampling.

Take a shower or wash themselves as best you can. Washing will reduce the amount of radioactive contamination on the body and will effectively reduce total exposure.

Be on the lookout for information. Once emergency personnel can assess the scene and the damage, they will be able to tell people whether radiation was involved.

Even if people do not know whether radioactive materials were present, following these simple steps can help reduce their injury from other chemicals that might have been present in the blast.

Keep televisions or radios tuned to local news networks. If a radioactive material was released, people will be told where to report for radiation monitoring and blood tests to determine whether they were exposed to the radiation as well as what steps to take to protect their health.

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