First Response to Hazards

There are 100s of dangerous substances. They traverse our cities. You overtake them on the freeway. What happens if these tank trucks spill? How can you recognize what you are faced with in a "toxic event?" What should you do to survive the experience? What can be done to take care of the problem?

Substance	Hazards -	What to do

In a series of articles, I will consider each type of hazard briefly.

The complete list of hazardous materials and the appropriate responses (in detail) can be found in the excellent Guidebook for First Responders.



Another source of information I use for my articles is the book Transportation of Hazardous Materials, July 1986

An additional introduction can be found at Wikipedia under Dangerous Goods

All this material is available without a fee.

Dangerous Transport!

I've always been interested in the signs on the back of dangerous transport trucks. What is the toxic crap that we have on our roads? When we hurtle along at freeway speeds, passing or driving up close to a chemical transport, what are we really coming near?

I always wanted a crib sheet to bring along in my car, so I could 'sightsee' the potential disasters as they roar by, on diesel drawn trailers. So here it is -

Here are a few samples of combined codes. For the complete list, please see Annex 5 of the Basics of Chemical Safety training module from the International occupation safety and health information centre.

Code	Danger
223	Refrigerated flammable gas
23	Flammable gas
239	Flammable gas, which can spontaneously lead to violent reaction
26	Toxic gas
286	Corrosive gas, toxic
33	Highly flammable liquid (flash point below 21°C)
46	Flammable or self-heating solid, toxic
558	Strongly oxidizing substance, corrosive
69	Toxic or harmful substance, which can spontaneously lead to violent reaction
73	Radioactive liquid, flammable (flash point not above 55°C)
90	Miscellaneous dangerous substance

The symbols viewed on any dangerous materials are as follows:

	Harmful, or Irritant		Oxidizing
	Toxic or Very Toxic		Dangerous for the environment
	Highly Flammable or Extremely Flammable		Corrosive
	Explosive

These are used on packaging materials for example, for any products that are dangerous.

A different set of signage is employed for dangerous transports - such as tank trucks carrying large quantities of hazardous materials. These signs will be discussed in a future post.

Juggling Act

Ever since I kept a diary, a good portion of what I wrote concerned what I wasn't doing. I drew sketches of different directions to take, people to see and write to, places to go, books to read, writing and artistic projects, martial arts and music to practice, esoteric arts to engage in, and of course cleaning up the mess.

It doesn't get any easier with kids, a busy career, married life, a home to maintain and the rest of the bourgeois grand wad of existence. These wonderful shared parts of life form the roots and base of my life.

Aesthetic pleasures devolve into consumerist acquisition of media and equipment to present it. Lacking dedicated time, fine music remains in the background, DVDs gather dust, digital pictures and video remain unedited, unproduced, unshared. Books, magazines, on-line bounty get no attention, even if paid for.

The immediacy of shuttling kids, getting them through the day fed, intact, clean, prepared for the challenges they face overwhelms so many 'fine pursuits.' Work has a bottomless character - no matter how much one does, it doesn't reach an end - or a point where it couldn't go better or bring further advantage. And many other obligations permit only so much neglect and procrastination - taxes and so on.

The challenge I share with so many others comes down to a continued desire to enjoy and develop the individualistic periphery of my life while still engaging heartily in my shared existence with family, friends and colleagues.