More Than 80,000 Emergency Response Guidebook Apps Downloaded
DOT's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration first offered the free, mobile web app of its 2012 ERG in January 2013 to assist emergency responders.
Two free, mobile web apps of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's Emergency Response Guidebook 2012 (ERG) have been downloaded almost 83,000 times, the DOT agency announced on its Twitter page Aug. 30. The apps were created to assist firefighters, police, and other emergency first responders who are managing hazmat incidents.
PHMSA collaborated with the National Library of Medicine to produce the apps. They're available from the Apple iTunes website at ERG 2012 for iPhone and from the Google Play website at ERG 2012 for Android.
When DOT announced the app in January 2013, it said the 2012 version of the ERG includes new evacuation tables for large toxic gas spills and standard response procedures for gas and liquid pipeline incidents. "The first 30 minutes are the most crucial when it comes to responding to a hazmat situation," then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said at the time. "The new app is both mobile and flexible, and gives first responders the knowledge they need to protect themselves and their communities in an emergency."