Hazardous Materials Chemistry for Emergency Responders

Written in the same clear, concise style that made the previous editions bestsellers, this book provides easy-to-understand chemistry for responders to use to handle hazardous materials emergencies on a daily basis. Focusing on the fundamentals of "street chemistry" that emergency response personnel need to know, it emphasizes the critical hazmat elements. This edition includes new review questions with answers and new incident examples. It also introduces the new United Nations GHS system for classification and labeling of chemicals, updates the NFPA requirements, and provides information on ethanol and other alternative automotive fuels.

The third edition of a bestseller, Hazardous Materials Chemistry for Emergency Responders continues to provide the fundamentals of "street chemistry" required by emergency response personnel. Emergency response and hazmat expert Robert Burke takes the basics of chemistry appropriate for response personnel and puts it into understandable terms. The author has retained the style and format that made the previous editions so popular while updating the information to keep the book relevant.

The chapters are organized by the nine U.S. Department of Transportation''s hazard classes. Almost every hazardous material presents more than one hazard; the DOT’s placarding and labeling system only identifies the most severe hazards. Therefore, the book provides additional information about hidden hazards for each hazard class. It discusses individual chemicals, their hazards and their physical and chemical characteristics, both as distinct chemicals and within chemical families.

The book offers a concise presentation of the topics of most importance to emergency responders on a day-to-day basis. It provides the basic chemistry a responder needs to understand chemical terminology and communicate with others about the chemicals involved in hazardous materials incidents.