Emergency Response Guide for Dangerous Goods

Merritt Clifton was an environmental journalist and lived in Brigham, Quebec.

Emergency Response Guide for Dangerous Goods wasn’t published for general distribution, but it is available on request to those who can demonstrate need for it. This includes police, firemen, public health officials, hospitals, some doctors in private practice, companies involved in manufacturing or transporting hazardous materials, and even some journalists. The list could well be expanded to include the reference desks of major libraries.

The Emergency Response Guide is a concise, fast-reference handbook on what to do in event of a transport emergency involving a chemical spill, leak, fire, or explosion. It enables the first people on the scene to identify quickly the chemical in question, and to start whatever emergency procedures might be appropriate. For instance, some chemical fires can be fought with water mist but not water streams. Others must be fought with other chemicals. Some chemicals combine with water to form toxic gas. Some explode. Some rapidly spread through water; some remain inert. The wrong response to a chemical accident can often cause more harm than the accident itself.

The reviewer field-tested the Emergency Response Guide in response to several hypothetical types of accident. Identification of correct emergency procedures, in either English or French, can be accomplished in under one minute, compared with an average of 10 to 30 minutes for obtaining similar information from other sources.

The cover bears the CANUTEC hotline number. Users are urged to call collect as soon as possible after an accident, to receive further advice about the particular situation.