The US Department of Transportation (DOT) and Transport Canada (TC) publish the Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG), which provides valuable information to first responders during the initial phase of a dangerous goods/hazardous materials transportation incident. A new edition of this guidebook is published every four years, the most recent edition being published in 2012. There are some changes to the 2012 edition that Emergency Responders should know and understand. One change is that the distances in Table 1, the green pages, have decreased for chlorine (see Table 1 below).
DOT has reported the addition of Table 3 to the ERG, which provides container specific guidance for the following six common toxic inhalation hazard (TIH) materials: chlorine, hydrogen chloride, ammonia, hydrogen fluoride, sulfur dioxide, and ethylene oxide. This table provides guidance for downwind protective action distances that include multiple measures of protection including evacuation and shelter-in-place. These distances are based on container size and wind speed. The reported information for chlorine (Table 2) and hydrogen chloride (Table 3) are below. Note, the table numbers in this document do NOT correspond to table numbers in the ERG. In light of this new information it will be necessary for CHLOREP teams and other members to emphasize that this downwind distance is only for initial on-scene consideration and that all elements of public protective action, particularly shelter-in-place, should be considered. Nothing in the guide specifies this as an evacuation distance and nor should it be considered a radius. Chlorine Institute Staff and others have met with officials from DOT who have confirmed that this should not be automatically considered to be an evacuation distance and that the Incident Commander must assess the situation and use the information on-scene to determine the appropriate actions and distances. DOT has indicated that more information has been included regarding the use of shelter-in-place techniques in the 2012 ERG and it will be offering a number of training events in 2012 to help first responders understand the new information. The Chlorine Institute will be adding guidance on the use of ERG Table 3 as it applies to chlorine and hydrogen chloride to its CHLOREP Team Training and TRANSCAER® initiatives.
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