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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

USDOT Announces Updated HAZMAT Emergency Guidebook

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

PHMSA 07-20
Contact:  PHMSAPublicAffairs@dot.gov


WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) today announced the publication of the 2020 edition of its Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG), providing first responders with a newly revised go-to manual that offers guidance on what to do during the critical first 30 minutes of a hazmat transportation accident.

“PHMSA is proud to produce and distribute a new and improved iteration of this critical safety resource for emergency responders across the nation,” said PHMSA Administrator Skip Elliott.  “Hazmat incidents present a range of safety challenges and responders need to know exactly what they’re dealing with.”

The ERG contains an indexed list of dangerous goods and their associated ID numbers, general hazards they pose, and recommended safety precautions. PHMSA will distribute more than 1.8 million copies of the guidebook to firefighters, emergency medical technicians and law enforcement officers across the nation.

The ERG is available to public safety agencies in all states and territories for free through designated state emergency management coordinators’ offices. PHMSA has partnered with the National Library of Medicine to provide the ERG as a free mobile app.

Print copies of ERG2020 are available for sale to the general public through the U.S. Government Printing Office Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov. 

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The mission of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is to protect people and the environment by advancing the safe transportation of energy and other hazardous materials that are essential to our daily lives.  PHMSA develops and enforces regulations for the safe operation of the nation’s 2.8 million-mile pipeline transportation system and the 1.2 million daily shipments of hazardous materials by land, sea, and air.  Please visit https://www.phmsa.dot.gov or https://twitter.com/PHMSA_DOT for more information.