Emergency response guidebook

Emergency response guidebook: The Emergency Response Guidebook, or ERG, is PHMSA's guide for the first minutes of a hazardous materials incident. Responders look up the material's identification number, find its guide page and read the immediate hazards, protective distances and first actions. The current edition is ERG 2024. Source

Who it is for

PHMSA released the 2024 edition for transporters, firefighters, police and other emergency services personnel who may be first on the scene of a hazmat transportation incident, and it is meant for initial response. Source It is organized by color: identification numbers, material names, response guides, and tables of isolation and protective action distances for the most dangerous materials.

The rule behind it

Carriers of hazardous materials must keep emergency response information with the shipping papers: hazards, precautions, firefighting and spill methods, and first aid. It can be on the shipping paper, in a safety data sheet, or in a separate guidance document cross-referenced to the paper. Source Many carriers keep a current ERG in every placarded truck for that reason.

In practice EXAMPLE

A tanker driver hauling UN1203, gasoline, has a hose fitting start leaking at a delivery. Before anything else, the driver steps away upwind, calls 911 and gives the number from the placard. The fire crew turns to the ERG's guide for that number for the first actions. Look up any number with our UN number lookup, and read tanker truck accidents and tank truck fall protection for prevention.

What the driver should do first

The guidebook is written for trained responders; the driver's first job is simpler. Stop, get clear and upwind of any leak, keep others away, and call 911 with your location, the placard number and the material from the shipping papers. Hand the shipping papers and emergency response information to the first responders who arrive, because they will use them with the guidebook. Don't try to stop a leak or fight a fire unless you are trained and equipped to do it safely.

Keep the guidebook where you can reach it with the shipping papers, inside the cab and within reach while driving, so you can hand both to responders at once. Replace it when a new edition comes out.