Excerpts from FireRescue1.com:
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) released the 2016 Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG2016), providing
first respondersfirefighters and other emergency personnel with an updated manual to help contend with hazardous materials transportation accidents during the critical first minutes.PHMSA will distribute more than 1.5 million free copies of the guidebook to firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and law enforcement officers across the nation who will use it to identify specific risks associated with compromised hazardous materials, and the recommended safety measures and procedures they should take to protect themselves and contain the incident as quickly as possible.
The ERG contains an indexed list of dangerous goods and the associated four-digit United Nations identification numbers. The ERG also identifies the general hazards those dangerous goods pose and recommends safety precautions in remediating a hazmat incident.
The 2016 version of the ERG includes general revisions, expanded sections and added guide pages for absorbed gases. Updated every four years as a collaborative effort of the USDOT, Transport Canada and Mexico’s Secretariat of Transport and Communications, the ERG2016 is available free to public safety agencies in all states, territories and Native American Tribes through designated state emergency management coordinators’ offices.
PHMSA has also partnered with the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to provide a free Smartphone version of the ERG2016. NLM also develops and distributes the Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders. The mobile application will be available this spring.
A copy of the new ERG2016 is posted online. Print copies of ERG2016 are available for sale to the general public through the U.S. Government Printing Office Bookstore and other commercial suppliers.
#1 by FFEMT on May 1, 2016 - 10:54 PM
Honest question for the Admin here….what problem do you have with the phrase First Responder?
#2 by Admin on May 2, 2016 - 10:30 AM
A first responder is someone with limited, basic knowledge of first aid to offer assistance until others arrive with a higher level of training. The term has become a catch-all phrase for anyone that wears a uniform, and in my view doesn’t offer the appropriate respect to those that it describes … police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel. Additionally, it’s used in articles by the media as a quick, lazy remedy which is easier than having to take the time to find out who they are actually talking about. The phrase dilutes the distinctions between the different careers of those providing for public safety and emergency response.