Emergency Response Guidebook
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2015) |
Author | United States Department of Transportation |
---|---|
Subject | Hazardous Materials |
Published | Every four years |
Publication date | 08/2020 |
Website | www.phmsa.dot.gov |
The Emergency Response Guidebook: A Guidebook for First Responders During the Initial Phase of a Dangerous Goods/Hazardous Materials Transportation Incident (ERG) is used by emergency response personnel (such as
Guidebook Contents
The ERG is primarily applicable for hazardous materials transported by highway and railway, but also is applicable for materials transported by air or
Sections
White Section (front)
The first section, with white page (uncolored) borders, provides the following:
- Information regarding shipping documents
- Instructions on how to use the guidebook
- General guidance for responding to any hazardous material incident
- Basic information on the hazard classification system and the associated placards/labels
- Recommendations the proper guides based transporting vehicle types and/or placards (when the material in question cannot be further identified otherwise)
- General safety precautions
- Specific guidance for incidents involving pipelines
Yellow Section
The second section, with yellow page borders, references the material in order of its assigned 4-digit ID number/
Blue Section
The third section, with blue page borders, references the material in alphabetical order of its name and identifies the appropriate guide number to reference in the Orange Section). Items highlighted in green in this section will also have evacuation distances included in the Green Section.
Orange Section
The fourth section, with orange page borders, includes the actual response guides. Each of the 62 guides provides safety recommendations and directions on how to proceed during the initial response phase (first thirty minutes) of the incident. It includes "health" and "fire or explosion" potential hazard information (with the more dangerous hazard listed first). For example, "the material gives off irritating vapors, easily ignited by heat, reactive with water"; "highly toxic, may be fatal if inhaled, swallowed or absorbed through skin"; etc.
Next this section includes information for responders on appropriate protective clothing and possible evacuation information for either spill or fire is given. It also includes information on fighting fires (example, do not apply water to sodium), warnings for spills or leaks, and special directions for first aid (example, not to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation if the materials are toxic).
In the event of an unknown material, Guide #111 should be followed until more information becomes available.
Green Section
The fifth section, with green page borders, suggests initial evacuation or
White Section (back)
The sixth section, with white page (uncolored) borders, provides the following:
- Additional instructions on how to use the guidebook
- Information regarding protective clothing and equipment
- Instructions on fire and spill control
- BLEVE(boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion) safety precautions
- Beginning with the 2004 edition, information specifically for hazardous materials being used for terrorism
- Glossary of terms used in the ERG
- Contact information for the various countries
See also
References
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-06-15. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/PHMSA/DownloadableFiles/Files/Hazmat/ERG2012.pdf Archived 2016-06-14 at the Wayback Machine 2012 Emergency Response Guide, page 356
External links
Editions of the ERG:
- 2020 Edition - Current Edition - (Archived)
- 2016 Edition - (Archived)
- 2012 Edition - (Archived)
- 2008 Edition - (Archived)
- 2004 Edition - (Archived)
- 2000 Edition - At Internet Archive
- 1996 Edition - At Internet Archive
Other links
- Official website - The United States Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
- Official website - Transport Canada webpage
- Press release announcing 2016 edition ERG release