Summary of changes from ERG2016 to ERG2020

Sorry I am late posting these, but here are the latest Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG) changes.  And there are a lot of them; listed based on the color of their section in the guidebook:

White pages

• reviewed the guidebook and changed these sections to make them easier to read and understand:
  • Introduction to Green Tables
  • Protective Actions
  • Background on Table 1 – Initial Isolation and Protective Action Distances
  • How to use Table 1- Initial Isolation and Protective Action Distances
  • User’s Guide
  • Protective Clothing
  • Fire and Spill Control
  • Criminal or Terrorist Use of Chemical, Biological and Radiological Agents
• added a new decontamination section to describe basic contamination theory and proper decontamination techniques.
• reworked the BLEVE section into the BLEVE and Heat-Induced Tear section. This section now shows the cause and hazards of BLEVEs and Heat-Induced Tears.
• added:
  • lithium battery label and marking, and gasoline placard to the Table of Markings, Labels, and Placards.
  • new terms and their definitions to the Glossary:
    • adsorbed gas
    • boil over
    • flooding quantities
    • high expansion foam
    • organic peroxide
    • refrigerated liquefied gas
  • basic information on Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) in the Criminal or Terrorist Use of Chemical, Biological and Radiological Agents section.
  • a top view illustration of the TC117/DOT117 to the Rail Car Identification Chart.
  • illustration of an Intermodal Freight Container to the Road Trailer Identification Chart
• improved the illustrations in the Rail Car and Road Trailer Identification Charts.

YELLOW AND BLUE PAGES

For these pages, we:

• removed the UN numbers for Chemical Warfare Agents and moved them to the beginning of the yellow pages and Table 1. They’re still in alphabetical order in the blue pages.
• added fifteen new materials (UN3535 to UN3549) listed in the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (up to the 21st revised edition).
• deleted out of date materials based on the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and North American regulations.
• re-evaluated the polymerization hazard criteria for some high-risk materials, and added the polymerization marking (P) to 13 materials:
  • UN1051
  • UN1099
  • UN1100
  • UN1129
  • UN1275
  • UN1988
  • UN1989
  • UN2048
  • UN2480
  • UN2482
  • UN2483
  • UN2485
  • UN2486
• re-analyzed the chemical properties of many materials to make sure that they’re assigned to the appropriate Orange Guide. Also moved thirty-four materials to a different Orange Guide:
  • UN1006 (Guide 121 to 120)
  • UN1046 (Guide 121 to 120)
  • UN1056 (Guide 121 to 120)
  • UN1065 (Guide 121 to 120)
  • UN1066 (Guide 121 to 120)
  • UN1112 (Guide 140 to 128)
  • UN1199 (Guide 132 to 153)
  • UN1450 (Guide 141 to 140)
  • UN1494 (Guide 141 to 140)
  • UN1500 (Guide 140 to 141)
  • UN1649 (Guide 131 to 152)
  • UN1802 (Guide 140 to 157)
  • UN1848 (Guide 132 to 153)
  • UN1865 (Guide 131 to 128)
  • UN1872 (Guide 141 to 140)
  • UN1928 (Guide 135 to 138)
  • UN1990 (Guide 129 to 171)
  • UN1994 (Guide 131 to 136)
  • UN2036 (Guide 121 to 120)
  • UN2209 (Guide 132 to 153)
  • UN2211 (Guide 133 to 171)
  • UN2381 (Guide 130 to 131)
  • UN2438 (Guide 132 to 131)
  • UN2721 (Guide 141 to 140)
  • UN2806 (Guide 138 to 139)
  • UN2983 (Guide 129 to 131)
  • UN3084 (Guide 140 to 157)
  • UN3093 (Guide 140 to 157)
  • UN3257 (Guide 128 to 171)
  • UN3304 (Guide 123 to 125)
  • UN3308 (Guide 123 to 125)
  • UN3379 (Guide 128 to 113)
  • UN3380 (Guide 133 to 113)
  • UN3463 (Guide 132 to 153)

ORANGE pages

For these pages, we:

• added an introduction called “How to use the Orange Guides”. This new section explains the 4 parts of an Orange Guide. In this section, the terms “evacuate” and “isolate” are defined.
• merged Guide 121 with Guide 120. Guide 121 now states: “Page intentionally left blank”. Products that referred to Guide 121, now refer to Guide 120.
• had the Orange Guides for radioactive materials (Guide 161 to Guide 166) re-evaluated for technical accuracy by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
• had the Orange Guide for infectious substances (Guide 158) validated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
• moved the safety distances that were in the Public Safety section to the Evacuation section. Now all safety distances in an Orange Guide fall under the same heading.
• added safety distances for ammonium nitrate on fire to Guide 140.
• increased safety distances for materials on fire in Guide 114 from 500 m (1/3 mile) to 800 m (1/2 mile). This was based on consultations with stakeholder subject matter experts.
• added CAUTION sentences for specific compounds. These sentences:
  • describe inhalation toxicity concerns due to hydrogen sulphide gas in petroleum crude oil:
    • in Guide 128
  • describe proper firefighting and spill remediation techniques for liquefied natural gas (LNG):
    • in Guide 115
  • describe the explosive nature, even in the absence of air, of:
    • acetylene in Guide 116
    • ethylene oxide in Guide 119
  • describe the hazards of an invisible flame for:
    • ethanol in Guide 127
    • methanol in Guide 131
    • carbon monoxide in Guide 168
  • describe the toxicity of pentaborane:
    • in Guide 135
  • describe the flammability hazards of some aerosols:
    • in Guide 126
• reviewed the Orange Guides with the help of instructors from the United States National Fire Academy (NFA).
  • Some sentences were added, deleted, or changed to give the best available advice and use consistent and clear language.
• separated the references to highlighted and non-highlighted materials in the Evacuation section and simplified the language to make it easier to understand.

GREEN pages

For these pages, we:

• revised the distances in Table 1 and Table 3.
• organized Table 3 by ID number (numerical order of material) instead of alphabetical order.
• revised “How to use Table 2” to clearly explain that the information in Table 2 is for information purposes only. Table 2 doesn’t change the suggested response strategies listed in the related Orange Guide, Table 1 or Table 3.
• added Table 3 container capacities in the section called “How to use Table 3”.
• added a visual tab in the green page border to make it easier to see the differences between Table 1, 2 and 3. The tables are all still the same green color but the side margins now include a series of white boxes that go down the page with the words Table 1, Table 2, or Table 3.
• added more Toxic Inhalation Hazard (Poison Inhalation Hazard in the U.S.) materials in Table 1 and Water-Reactive Materials in Table 2:
  • UN1390 to Table 1 and Table 2
  • UN2965 to Table 1 and Table 2
  • UN3539 to Table 1