By Doug Nelson, State Fire Marshal
Every four years, the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) – Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration produces Emergency Response Guidebooks (ERG). The 2024 is the latest addition and will be delivered and available soon. This book is a tool to help emergency responders recognize and take initial actions (or inactions) for hazardous materials incidents. “For almost 50 years, the Emergency Response Guidebook has served as a critical resource for personnel tasked with initial response to accidental releases of hazardous materials”. You can find links to further information or request an order of ERGs on our website here.
The guidebook is split into four sections: yellow, blue, orange, and green. The yellow section identifies a material by 4-digit ID (UN/NA number) and lists the guide number to reference in the orange section. The blue section identifies a material by name and lists the guide number to reference in the orange section. The orange section provides safety and response information for responders to apply and follow for the situation and material. And the green section includes further evacuation and shelter-in-place distances for specific materials. This is a very simplistic description, and other information and instructions can be found at the USDOT website.
Highlights of the new edition include updated computer modeling verified by laboratory and field experiments in the green section, guidance on lithium-ion batteries and electrical vehicle batteries, and a QR code on the back to help responders report incidents to USDOT.
The book comes in both hard copy and, since 2020, has been available as an app that can be downloaded here. The USDOT’s goal is to place an ERG in every public emergency service vehicle nationwide. With that goal in mind, the North Dakota State Fire Marshals Office is set to receive approximately 5,000 of these books to distribute. We aim to work with County Emergency Managers around the State and organize distribution through them. So, to get your books, you can do one of the following:
- Contact your emergency manager to let them know how many books you need;
- Contact our main office at (701)328-5555 or infofm@nd.gov and report what county you are in and how many books you need. From there, when the books are organized, we will contact the person ordering and determine how distribution will occur.
Please keep in mind that USDOT is reducing the number of hard copies distributed each year, so you may not be able to get the same amount as prior years. We will work with you to try to get you what your department/responders need.
As always, please contact us with any questions about this process and how we can help you get the information you need.