Chemicals & Poisons

Chemical Incident Management

People in chemical protection suits being decontaminated

The Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division (CHaPD) provides support to the National Health Service in dealing with the management and consequences of chemical incidents.

The Division runs a 24 hour on-call service to assist public health professionals, local authorities, and the emergency services in the management of acute incidents such as fires, spills and explosions. The Division can provide expert advice in areas such as environmental toxicology and emergency management protocols. It can also facilitate communication links between responsible agencies.

CHaPD can also assist the Public Health Community in the follow-up of chemical incidents, providing expertise in epidemiological methods, questionnaire design, and communications strategies.


Information for the public

There is considerable public concern about the potential adverse health effects of chemicals within the environment. Chemicals such as minerals, metal ores and atmospheric gases exist naturally in the environment whilst other chemicals have been purposely manufactured.

Society as a whole is extremely dependent upon chemicals. They are used daily in food production and preservation, water sanitation, housing, housekeeping and household equipment, transportation and health. This dependence is supported by a vigorous industrial chemical synthesising base, with distribution by a transport infrastructure of railway and road haulage, sea and air cargo. The magnitude of chemical utilisation is underlined by the fact that over 25 million chemicals exist within the "Universe of Chemicals", 70,000 of which are in regular use, with 49 million tonnes transported around the UK on an annual basis.

These chemicals may be beneficial, neutral or harmful. Beneficial chemicals are generally those that form part of our diets or those that are purposely taken, such as drugs, to cure illness. However some chemicals, including some that occur naturally, may be harmful to human health or the environment. The degree of harm from exposure to these chemicals depends on the amount of the chemical (dose) to which the affected population or individual is exposed.

The division is aiming to produce comprehensive information and resources, such as chemical fact-sheets and research documents for the general public, which will appear on this website in due course.

Factsheets for the public:

Factsheets for professionals: