DOT/PHMSA have compiled the most important changes from ERG2020 to ERG2024, organized by the color of the corresponding section in the guidebook
- White
- Yellow/Blue
- Orange, and
- Green
In addition to the changes listed below, all sections have undergone minor editorial changes for accuracy and consistency.
In this edition, DOT/PHMSA has added QR codes to the back cover of the hard copy version of ERG2024, offering quick access to critical incident reporting information for users on the scene of an emergency.
If you have already downloaded ERG for iOS or ERG2020 for Android, published by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), no action needed! Your app will update automatically to ERG2024.
WHITE SECTION
FRONT MATERIAL
- Updated the Table of Markings, Labels, and Placards to remove (2) obsolete designs: triangular Marine Pollutant marking and yellow Division 5.2 placard.
- Updated the Road Trailer Identification Chart to include new descriptive text on some of the configurations/types.
- Updated the Rail Car Identification Chart by adding a cryogenic railcar.
MIDDLE MATERIAL
- Added a table to help in deciding whether Evacuation or Shelter-in-Place is the best option.
END MATERIAL
- Added Liquid Spill Control methods section, including guidance on the types and uses of absorbent materials.
- Added Considerations for Lithium Battery and Electric Vehicle (EV) Fires, including identification of Damaged, Defective or Recalled (DDR) lithium batteries.
- Removed Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents considerations.
- Added a new Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents section in the Criminal or Terrorist Use of Chemical, Biological and Radiological Agents section. All Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents considerations that were found throughout the ERG are now collected in this new section. Chemical Warfare Agents (CWA) are now listed based on their type and symptoms, not by their name. This new section includes:
- Biological Warfare Agents table
- Chemical Warfare Agents table
- Initial Isolation and Protective Action Distances for CWA
- Expanded glossary includes:
- Air-reactive
- Combustible
- Control temperature
- Criticality Safety Index (CSI)
- Evacuate
- Isolate
- Polar
- Self-heating material
- Self-reactive material
- Spontaneously combustible material
- Thermal runaway
- Water insoluble
- Water soluble
- Clarified differentiation of Solid or Straight Stream
YELLOW AND BLUE SECTIONS
Added eleven (11) new UN numbers listed in the UN Model Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (up to the 23rd revised edition) and assigned
Orange guides
Re-evaluated materials to make sure that they are assigned to the appropriate Orange guide. Moved nineteen (19) materials to a different guide
Removed the following UN numbers that are obsolete:
- UN1014 - Carbon dioxide and oxygen mixture, compressed
- UN1015 - Carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide mixture
- UN1366 - Diethylzinc
- UN1370 - Dimethylzinc
- UN2005 - Magnesium diphenyl
- UN3051 - Aluminum alkyls
- UN3053 - Magnesium alkyls
- UN3076 - Aluminum alkyl hydrides.
- Removed the Chemical Warfare Agents from the Yellow and Blue Sections (incorporated into the Criminal or Terrorist Use of Chemical, Biological and Radiological Agents section).
- Added the polymerization hazard (P) to UN3302 - 2-Dimethylaminoethyl acrylate, Stabilized
ORANGE SECTION
- Moved the general first aid recommendations to a new section called “General First Aid” (found before Guide 111)— kept only material-specific recommendations in Orange Guide pages.
- Added the following recommendations in the Guides:
GREEN SECTION
- Table 1:
- Chemical warfare agents removed, incorporated into the Criminal or Terrorist Use of Chemical, Biological and Radiological Agents section
- Revised the distances
- No new entries resulting from new UN numbers.
- Table 3:
- Revised distances
- Table 3:
