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What are the goals of this site?

Enable first responders, first receivers, other healthcare providers, and planners to plan for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of mass-casualty incidents involving chemicals
Provide a comprehensive, user-friendly, web-based resource that is also downloadable in advance, so that it would be available during an event if the internet is not accessible

Who produced this site?

CHEMM was produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Tactical Programs Division, Office of Emergency Management, in cooperation with the National Library of Medicine, Division of Specialized Information Services, and many medical, emergency response, toxicology, and other types of experts.

Those responsible for the CHEMM Web site and their affiliations are listed below:

Editing and Technology Team

Name	Expertise	Agency	Group	Degree
Mark Kirk Associate Managing Editor	Medical Toxicologist	DHS	Office of Health Affairs, Health Threats Resilience Division, Chemical Defense	M.D.
George Charles Fonger (retired) Technical Information Specialist	Biology, Toxicology	NIH	NLM	BSc

Project Management:

Name	Title	Agency	Group	Degree
John F. Koerner	Senior Special Advisor - CBRNE Science & Operations. Formerly: Chief, CBRNE Branch Tactical Programs Division Office of Emergency Management	HHS	ASPR	MPH, CIH
Tom Hu	Managing Editor BARDA Interdisciplinary Scientist/Project Office	BARDA	Chemical	Ph.D., MBA, DABMP

Special Acknowledgement for Historical Contributions

Name	Title	Agency	Group	Degree
H. Florence Chang (retired) Chief, Technology Team	Computer Scientist	NIH	NLM	M.S.
Pertti Hakkinen (retire) Managing Director	Acting Head, Office of Clinical Toxicology, Senior Toxicologist and Toxicology and Environmental Health Science Advisor	HIH HHS	NLM/LO	Ph.D.
David Siegel (retired) Associate Managing Editor	Pediatrician	NIH HHS	NICHD	M.D.

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Disclaimers

Medical

Health care providers should consider the specific circumstances of each patient encountered during an emergency and use his/her clinical judgment in providing care. CHEMM information is meant to supplement principles of good clinical management.
Recommendations for any patient's medical care should consider not only the specific circumstances of that patient but also the resources available during the emergency.
Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial product, process, service, manufacturer, or company does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation by the U.S. government or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or any of its agencies. HHS is not responsible for the contents of any "off-site" Web page referenced on this site.
When visiting our site, your Web browser may produce pop-up advertisements. These advertisements were most likely produced by other sites you visited or by third-party software installed on your computer. HHS does not endorse or recommend products or services whose pop-up advertisements may appear on your computer screen while visiting our site.
CHEMM medical recommendations are not the official policy of the U.S. government, HHS, or any of its agencies, including those agencies of the CHEMM developers.
Neither the U.S. government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information disclosed.
CHEMM recommendations are based on what is considered to be the best clinical evidence available. Whenever possible, primary sources of this evidence are cited, and users are encouraged to read these documents.
HHS and CHEMM authors and consultants are not responsible for the accuracy of hyperlinked content on Web sites outside of CHEMM.
CHEMM is updated frequently as new information becomes available. We encourage all CHEMM users to join the CHEMM ListServ to be notified about these updates, especially if you have downloaded an earlier version of CHEMM.
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CHEMM recommendations are not intended for use in medicolegal claims.

Web site

Unless otherwise noted, material presented on the CHEMM Web site is considered federal government information and is in the public domain.
That means this information may be freely copied and distributed. We request that you use appropriate attribution to CHEMM.
Many checklists and other materials are available in PDF format for ease of duplication. Note that if material is adapted or modified, all CHEMM citations and logos must be removed.
If copyrighted content, documents, images, or other materials appear at CHEMM, it will be noted, and the copyright holder should be consulted before that material is reproduced.
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The information at CHEMM provides general summary information for the public. Information at CHEMM does not supercede, preempt, or replace statutes, regulations, or other aspects of federal law.
CHEMM provides links to other Internet sites only for the convenience of World Wide Web users. CHEMM is not responsible for the availability or content of these external sites, nor does CHEMM endorse, warrant or guarantee the products, services or information described or offered at these other Internet sites. It is the responsibility of the user to examine the copyright and licensing restrictions of linked pages and to secure all necessary permission.
CHEMM is maintained by the U.S. government and is protected by various provisions of Title 18 of the U.S. Code. Violations of Title 18 are subject to criminal prosecution in federal court.
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List of consultants

Content Expertise / Institution / Name
Acute Patient Care Guidelines
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, NIH David Siegel, MD FAAP, Pediatric Emergency Medicine (Primary editor and author) University of Pittsburg, PA Richard Beigi MD, OB-Gyn Lutheran Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY Iffath Hoskins MD, OB-Gyn U.S. Army James M. Madsen MD, MPH, FCAP, FACOEM, COL(ret), MC-FS Currently at Knowledge Preservation Program, ORISE, Chemical Casualty Care Division (CCCD), U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Chemical Defense (USAMRICD) Jonathan Newmark, M.D., FAAN Colonel, Medical Corps, US Army Consultant to the Surgeon General, Chemical Casualty Care Deputy Joint Program Executive Officer, Medical Systems Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical/Biological Defense US Department of Defense As of July, 2014: Special Government Employee, Chemical Defense Program, US Department of Homeland Security, Office of Health Affairs HHS/ASPR Andrew L. Garrett MD, Pediatrics, EMS Cornell University Medical Center Steven Weinstein MD, Neurologist Chicago Children's Hospital, IL Steven Krug MD, Emergency Medicine Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Fred M. Henretig MD, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology Children National Medical Center, DC Daniel Ochsenschlager MD, Emergency Medicine Daniel Fagbuyi MD, Emergency Medicine Montefiore Children's Hospital, Bronx, NY Michael Ushay MD, ICU Marco Ayulo MD, ICU
CHEMM Intelligent Syndromes Tool: CHEMM-IST
Department of Homeland Security, Office of Health Affairs Mark Kirk, MD, Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology (Originator of the concept for CHEMM-IST) Joselito Ignacio, MA, MPH, CIH, CSP, REHS, Deputy Director, Chemical Defense Program, as of December 2014. Currently CBRNE Science Advisor at FEMA Headquarters, Response Directorate. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, NIH David Siegel, MD FAAP, Pediatric Emergency Medicine Virginia Department of Health, Office of Emergency Medical Services Michael D. Berg BS, NREMT-P/EMT-I/EMT-D Emergency Medical Services / Flight Paramedic Rita Krenz MS, NREMT-P (PHI AirMedical, AirCare 5) University of Connecticut School of Medicine/Hartford Hospital / Medical Toxicology Charles McKay, MD FACMT, Medical Toxicology James Madison University Michael Deaton, Professor, Integrated Science and Technology Joseph Marchal, Professor, Computer Science
Content Review
HHS/ASPR/OPEO John Koerner, MPH, CIH HHS/CDC/NIOSH Richard W. Niemeier, Ph.D. HHS/ASPR/OPEO/NDMS Andrew L. Garrett MD, Pediatrics, EMS U.S. Army James M. Madsen MD, MPH, FCAP, FACOEM, COL(ret), MC-FS Currently at Knowledge Preservation Program, ORISE, Chemical Casualty Care Division (CCCD), U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Chemical Defense (USAMRICD) Jonathan Newmark, M.D., FAAN Colonel, Medical Corps, US Army Consultant to the Surgeon General, Chemical Casualty Care Deputy Joint Program Executive Officer, Medical Systems Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical/Biological Defense US Department of Defense Children National Medical Center, DC Daniel Ochsenschlager MD, Emergency Medicine Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Fred M. Henretig MD, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology University of Pittsburg, PA Richard Beigi MD, OB-Gyn Lutheran Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY Iffath Hoskins MD, OB-Gyn FEMA Emergency Management Instititue, National Emergency Training Center John Hoyle CHEMTREC Rick Raksnis, Director, Operations Center As of December 2013: Director, Field Services at Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), U.S. DOT Dupont Belle Plant Barry Lindley, Senior Emergency Response Specialist Vanderbilt University John G. Benitez MD, MPH, FAACT, FACMT, FACPM, FAAEM

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CHEMM wins award

CHEMM's Managing Editor, Dr. Pertti Hakkinen, has received 2011 Risk Communication Award from the Alliance for Chemical Safety, and the 2014 Fellow Award from the Society for Risk Analysis.

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Publications about CHEMM

Kovacs D, Thorne S, Butte G. Chapter 8: Influence of the CHEMM tool on planning, preparedness, and emergency response to hazardous chemical exposures: A customized strategic communications process based on mental modeling. Pages 105-131. In: Mental Modeling Approach: Risk Management Application Case Studies. Matthew D. Wood, Sarah Thorne, Daniel Kovacs, Gordon Butte, Igor Linkov. Springer, New York.
Madsen J. Chemical terrorism: Rapid recognition and initial medical management. UpToDate®. Last update was September 13, 2017. Literature review current through September 2017. Access unavailable without a personal or institutional account at: UpToDate
Lansdowne K, Scully CG, Galeotti L, Schwartz S, Marcozzi D, Strauss DG. Recent advances in medical device triage technologies for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine (2015) 30: 320-3. [PubMed citation]
McKay C, Schraman EJ. Intentional and inadvertent chemical contamination of food, water, and medication. Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America (2015) 33: 153-77. [PubMed citation]
More publications about CHEMM or noting CHEMM as a resource

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Linking policy

The CHEMM encourages links to its pages. Links to the CHEMM home page (https://chemm.hhs.gov) are preferred but links to individual pages within the CHEMM Web site are also permissible, provided attribution is made to HHS and/or CHEMM and any descriptive notes accurately reflect the content of the linked page(s). Links should refer to CHEMM as "Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management: CHEMM (US Department of Health and Human Services)."
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Copyright

Unless otherwise noted, material presented on the chemm.hhs.gov website is considered federal government information and is in the public domain. Works produced by the U.S. government are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. This information may be freely copied and distributed. Any such works found on the websites may be freely used or reproduced without permission in the U.S. Please acknowledge chemm.hhs.gov as the source of the information by including the phrase “Courtesy of the USDHHS Radiation Emergency Medical Management” or “Source: https://chemm.hhs.gov”. For National Library of Medicine content found on the site please reference the NLM Copyright page for details.

Many checklists and other materials are available in PDF format for ease of duplication. Note that if material is adapted or modified, all chemm.hhs.gov citations must be removed. If copyrighted content, documents, images, or other materials appear on chemm.hhs.gov, it will be noted, and the copyright holder must be consulted before that material may be reproduced.

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Quick Links

CHEMM Intelligent Syndromes Tool:
CHEMM-IST

Acute Patient Care Guidelines

Types and Categories of Hazardous Chemicals

Emergency Contacts

Dictionary