Tutorial

In this section, two scenarios are given as a tutorial for using WISER. In the first scenario, the substance is known; in the second, the substance is not known. WISER can be used in both of these scenarios to assist in responding to the incident.

Known Substance

In this scenario, you are the first responder at a scene.  There is an overturned cargo tank with ‘Hydrogen Peroxide’ on the side; the papers on board and driver verify that it is hydrogen peroxide.  There is a small fire caused by the engine on the cargo tank.  The driver of the truck has been splashed with the hydrogen peroxide and may have ingested some of it.

The immediate tasks are to clear out an appropriate area around the tanker truck, treat the driver, and correctly respond to the small fire.  Using the WISER application, you can use Graffiti (the native Palm alphabet) to write an ‘h’ in the text field.  The list of substances will scroll down to substances beginning with ‘h’. Continue entering letters until hydrogen peroxide is visible in the list (or use your devices scroll buttons to advance the rest of the way).

 

 

 

Tap on hydrogen peroxide.  This will bring up the Data Page for hydrogen peroxide, showing the Key Info.

 

 

To determine the appropriate area to clear out, bring up the menu by tapping on Key Info, then tap on Protective Distance option in the menu, as shown below. This brings up the Evacuation distance information from the DOT Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG). (The ERG is also accessible in its entirety by tapping the HAZMAT submenu.)

                              

For information on the appropriate response to the fire, bring up the menu by tapping on Protective Distance and then tap on the Fire Procedures link in the data menu, as shown below. (The fire procedures is also accessible from the HAZMAT submenu).

                             

Finally, treatment of the driver can be determined by tapping on the Treatment hot link, as shown below. (The treatment data is also accessible from the Medical submenu). 

                               

If more in-depth information is required, such as physical properties, it can be found by selecting the category of interest in the data menu, and then the desired data element from the resulting submenu. For example, to view information about decomposition, you select the category ‘Properties’ from the data menu, and then ‘Decomposition’ from the resulting submenu.

 

Unknown Substance

In this scenario, you are the Hazardous Materials Specialist responding to an incident at a warehouse.  The warehouse has been cleared and the situation has been stabilized.  Your primary task is to identify the substance and provide information and recommendations to the Incident Commander. 

The substance in question has been leaking from an unmarked barrel.  It has been described as a colorless liquid with an alcohol smell.  The workers from the warehouse are showing the following symptoms:  nausea, dizziness, headache, eye irritation, and low body temperature.

Using WISER in this situation, you tap on the Help Identify button on the Main page.  If there is an existing search in progress, you should tap on New Search to save the search and clear out the symptoms and properties. 

To enter the properties of the substance, first tap on ‘State’ to bring up the possible values of physical state and tap on ‘liquid’.  Liquid is now shown in the selected list and the number of matching substances has been reduced to 266 of the original 390.  

                                

Then, following the same process,  select colorless from the Color property and select ‘alcohol-like from the Odor property.  For ‘alcohol-like’ odor, you might need to scroll to see that option in the list as shown below.

                               

The result of using the properties liquid, colorless, and alcohol-like odor is that the original list of 390 substances has been reduced to 35.  To enter victim symptoms, tap on the symptoms button at the top of the Properties page.

                                     

The patient symptoms (nausea, dizziness, headache, eye irritation, and low body temperature) are selected by tapping on the body part that shows the symptom.  For nausea, tap on the stomach and then tap on the nausea symptom from the list that pops up. Nausea will be added to the selected list.

                               

For dizziness and headache, tap on the brain.  After dizziness has been selected, the neurological list can also be brought up by tapping on the dizziness symptom from the Selected list.

                             

                                          

The symptoms of eye irritation and low body temperature are selected similarly.  For eye irritation, tap on the eyes in the image of the human body.  Then, tap on irritation.  For low body temperature, tap on the image of the thermometer and then tap on low body temperature.  The result of the symptoms, combined with the previously entered properties is shown below.  To view the results of the search, tap on the Results button.

                            

The result of the search to this point has resulted in 4 substances that match the symptoms and properties selected.  To determine the correct substance, the Results page allows the user to group and sort the substance in different ways, remove substances that are known to be incorrect, and go to the Data pages for the substances.  In this tutorial, the user groups by various symptoms and properties until getting to Specific Gravity, and that information is used to narrow down the substances even more.  Here, the user taps on the Group-by button, and selects Specific Gravity.  Based on the results of the grouping, the user tests the substance and observes that the substance is not soluble and floats on water.  This information is used below.   Since the substance is known to float, the sinks in water substance can be removed.  This is done by tapping in the box to the right of the ‘sinks in water’ grouping.

                                    

The remaining substances need to be examined in more detail to determine the correct substance.  First, examine Sulfur Trioxide by tapping on the substance name.  The Key Info indicates that it is water-reactive.  It is likely that this substance can be removed.  If it is decided later to re-examine substances, they can all be returned by tapping the Show All box on the bottom right.

                                

Next, examine Zirconium Nitrate.  This substance is water-soluble and hence is unlikely to be the correct substance. 

                                           

                                   

The final result of the search is Isopropanol.  Information about this substance can be obtained by tapping on the name and using the Data page as described for known substances.