Emergency Response, Incident Notification, and Reporting
Before anything happens
Every hazmat shipping paper must include an emergency response telephone number, monitored 24 hours, plus emergency response information. The Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG) is organized by the four-digit ID number and by the proper shipping name; the yellow-bordered pages give the three-digit guide number, and the orange guide tells you protective actions, isolation distances, and firefighting cautions. The driver's job at a spill is to protect people: get upwind and uphill, eliminate ignition sources, keep others away, and call for help. Do not attempt cleanup or heroics beyond your training.
Who to call
Call 911 for life safety and the shipper's 24-hour number for product information. Report certain incidents to the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802 as soon as practical but no later than 12 hours after the incident. Reportable incidents include a death, an injury requiring hospitalization, evacuation of the public for an hour or more, closure of a major transportation artery, fire or explosion involving the material, or a release of a hazardous substance above its reportable quantity. Spills of hazardous substances above an RQ also trigger the NRC call. A detailed written report follows separately on the DOT incident report form, due within 30 days.
Traps
Questions mix up the 12-hour phone notification with the 30-day written report, or claim the driver must call the NRC before calling 911. Life safety always comes first. Another favorite: whether a small spill needs reporting - the trigger is the RQ and the incident categories, not how the puddle looks.
Worked example
A placarded truck rolls over and a drum of a hazardous substance leaks 50 pounds, well over its reportable quantity, and the highway closes for two hours. That is a reportable incident: 911 first, then the shipper's emergency number, then the NRC within 12 hours, and the written report within 30 days.