These are the reference books that I recommend fire departments and/or company officers purchase and carry on your engine. Hazmat incidents in order to have a good outcome require immediate information. Does anyone carry these or other reference materials in their command binders?

You always want to use a minimum of (3) three sources of information when making decisions.

The Emergency Response Guidebook is a given. We all get these for free. They cost nothing for emergency responders. Key thing to remember about the ERG is that I want to NAG you about remembering the new additions to the ERG that include evacuation distance updates and more. Take the time to memorize how the ERG is put together. Have you done this yet? Well, believe it or not, you have already started without knowing it... Because when I talk about my being a NAG, what I am really saying is that the inside of the ERG is divided into:

Numerical Information (UN Guide Numbers, e.g. 1203 = gasoline)

Alphabetical Information (Individual Chemicals Listed Alphabetically)

Guide Numbers (what to do section)\

The second book that you will have to purchase on your own is the CDC NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards. This is an excellent source that is updated annually that gives you exposure and response consideration information.

The third book is written by and published by the American Conference of Industrial Hygenists and is also upated annually. This book focuses on exposure levels. Here's some information:

This companion document to the ACGIH^® Threshold Limit Values and Biological Exposure Indices book serves as a readily accessible reference for comparison of the most recently published values: 2010 Chemical Substance TLVs^® from ACGIH^®; AIHA Workplace Environmental Exposure Limits (WEELs); the OSHA Final Rule PELs; RELs from NIOSH; MAKs from the German Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Workplace; and carcinogenicity designations from ACGIH^®, OSHA, NIOSH, MAK, IARC, U.S. NTP, and U.S. EPA. The book includes a CAS number index.