Reference Material

[Brent Sanger]

I posted this in another forum on another website. What references does your team have available for you to use? Do you have Internet Access for your team? Share any references you have, as knowledge is the key to safely mitigating a Hazmat scene.

[Brent Sanger]

Our department's reference library is kinda small. We have no internet access on the team. So I tend to take my own library and laptop along with me on hazmat calls. I am hoping here soon to be able to get a cellular internet card for my laptop so I can connect anywhere, not just somewhere there's a Wi-Fi connection I can grab onto.

On my laptop I have the following:

CAMEO v1.2.2
ALOHA v5.4.1
MARPLOT v3.3.3
WISER v4.0
NOAA Reactivity Worksheet
2005 NIOSH Pocket Guide CD-ROM
ATSDR ToxFAQs 2006 and Tox Profiles 2006
Links to 9 MSDS websites, CAMEO Chemicals, CHRIS database
An electronic version of Quick Reference Sheets on several chemicals found in large quantity within my department's jurisdiction

Here's the MSDS websites I have links to
http://chemfinder.cambridgesoft.com Free database on chemicals
http://msdssearch.com/DBlinksN.htm A collection of MSDS search engines on one page.
http://www.msdsxchange.com/index.cfm MSDSXchange, a large searchable collection of MSDS sheets.
http://www.setonresourcecenter.com/MSDSs/comply1.htm MSDS library from Seton Resources
http://www.ohsah.bc.ca/EN/search_msds/search_msds_database/ Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare in British Columbia MDSD database
http://ull.chemistry.uakron.edu/erd/ University of Acron Department of Chemistry Chemical Database
http://hazard.com/msds/ Vermont Safety Information Resources, Inc. MSDS Database
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/index.htm Household Products Database
http://npic.orst.edu/ppdmove.htm National Pesticide Information Center

All of these MSDS resources are free to search on. That was one of my criteria for picking these sites, the free access. There are other MSDS sites available, but require a subscription, and they do not offer any form of reduced rate for emergency response organizations. I do not and cannot say one site is better than the other. Each has chemicals that the other sites do not, hence the large variety of searchable databases. After all, the more sources of information about a substance, the better our response can be.


My personal print library consists of the following:

2004 NAERG
Paper copies of the Quick Reference Sheets mentioned above
Jane's Chem-Bio Handbook, 3rd ed.
Hazardous Materials Field Guide (Bevelacqua)
WMD and Terrorism Response Field Guide
Hazardous Materials Chemistry Field Operations Guide
Explosives Identification Guide, 2nd ed.
2005 NIOSH Pocket Guide
First Responders Field Guide to Hazmat and Terrorism Emergency Response, 3rd ed.
Fire Protection Guide to Hazardous Materials, 12th ed
Emergency Medical Response to Hazardous Materials Incidents
Emergency Care for Hazardous Materials Exposure, 3rd ed.
Advanced Hazmat Life Support Provider manual, 3rd ed.
Decontamination for Hazardous Materials Emergencies

I use these in conjunction with the reference sources found on our hazmat team's trailer. A couple of my references are more up to date than the teams, and several of my references the team doesn't have at all. Combined with education, I do a decent job of identifying the materials in question.

A reference source that teams seem to forget (at least the ones who have had reviews written about them) is the medics. You can get a pretty good idea of the material you are dealing with based on how it has injured any victims that may be present. Acidic substances attack flesh a lot differently than alkalotic substances, and each group of hydrocarbons has a d

[Don Zimmerman]

You have the smae references we have in station, in any response apparatus we have. Only one you might that helps a bit is something on radiological response. Zimm