When people think about chemical protective clothing-like a Level C Tyvek suit worn during mold remediation, asbestos abatement, or pesticide application-they focus entirely on the suit's ability to keep chemicals out. They check the seams, ensure the zipper is taped, and make sure the hood is pulled tight. But the greatest risk of actual exposure almost never happens while the suit is being worn. The danger peaks during "doffing," the process of taking the contaminated suit off. If you peel a toxic suit off incorrectly, you will transfer the very hazard you were trying to avoid directly onto your skin or clothing.
The most common mistake workers make is treating the doffing process like taking off a regular pair of coveralls. They grab the hood and pull it over their head, dragging the contaminated exterior of the suit across their face and neck. It is a terrifyingly easy way to inhale asbestos fibers or get a pesticide in your eyes.
Proper doffing is a slow, deliberate, almost surgical process. The very first step happens before you even touch the suit: you must perform a deliberate decontamination wash if one is required for the chemical you are handling. But even with a wash, the suit is never perfectly clean.
When you remove the suit, you must use a technique called the "roll and peel." Instead of pulling the suit down from the shoulders, you cross your arms in front of your chest and grab the inside of the suit at the shoulders. You then pull the inside of the suit outward and down, turning the entire suit inside out as it comes off your arms. The contaminated exterior is now rolled up inside itself, trapped away from your clean clothes underneath.
The most difficult part of the body is usually the boots. You sit down, remove your outer chemical gloves (using a "glove-in-glove" technique so your bare hands never touch the outside of the dirty gloves), and then carefully pull the legs of the Tyvek suit over your boots, rolling the material inward so the dirty side stays contained. Once the suit is completely off and rolled into a tight ball, you immediately place it into a designated hazardous waste bag, touching only the clean interior of the bag to tie it shut. Finally, you wash your hands and face before taking a single step away from the exclusion zone. Rushing the doffing process to get to the water cooler or the truck faster completely defeats the purpose of wearing the suit in the first place.
