Hazardous Materials Chemistry for Emergency Responders - Book Report/Review Example

A Book Summary and Review The book authored by Robert Burke is entitled “Hazardous Materials Chemistry for Emergency Responders” is a wonderfully written book intended primarily for firefighters and other emergency personnel who will respond to fires and other emergency situations. What is of extreme importance coming from this book is the street knowledge it provides regarding an emergency responders' necessity to know some of the hazardous materials he might encounter during an emergency situation. There are many risks when responding to a fire involving the hazardous materials and it pays to know some of these important things in order to save lives and also avoid injury and even threats to one's life when responding. The utility of this book becomes readily apparent upon reading this book even from the very start. It attempts to explain complex topics in a very simple manner from the point of view or standpoint of chemistry. The author makes the reader understand how important it is to know various hazards presented by chemicals but uses street chemistry language to make matters easily understandable. The point of the book is to impart important knowledge about hazards and it does this task surprisingly and wonderfully clear. Even an ordinary reader gets away from reading this book with a greatly improved knowledge of various chemical hazards. Most of the topics in this book are organized in a very logical manner so knowledge reading is vastly easier and likely to be retained with the use of simple language. The author utilizes the US Department of Transportation (DOT) nine major official classifications of these hazardous materials and discusses each major hazard under a separate chapter. Chapter 1 of the book gives an excellent introduction and background on how these hazardous materials came into their existing classification system. The US DOT was the first to designate a hazard class for each hazardous material being transported and also invented a placard system to label these materials in a clearly visible manner during transport. Various government agencies are also involved with hazardous materials in their regulatory capacities such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) which is concerned with hazardous materials (now henceforth shorted to just hazmat) in the workplace while the other agency also concerned with hazmat is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) addresses hazmat wastes and their proper disposal methods. This book presents emergency response personnel (especially firefighters and medical emergency personnel) with a street view of chemistry as it applies to all hazardous materials in any emergency response situation. The knowledge about basic chemical concepts helps to prevent emergency response personnel from getting injured or killed during their responses to any hazmat incident. Figure 1.2 in Chapter 1 lists the top 15 types of dangerous chemicals that are mostly involved in accidents nationwide which together account for about two-thirds of all unintentional chemical releases to the environment. Figure 1.3 lists the top 23 hazmat usually shipped by railroad and gives a crucial snapshot of the dangers we face everyday about them. The top three transportation incidents usually involved either corrosive or flammable liquids or poisonous materials. The 9 major hazard classes with their corresponding subclass are listed under Figure 1.6 and are discussed separately by chapter. Hazard classification is done using a color-coding scheme. It is important to note that hazmat usually has more than one type of hazard involved but the placard system indicates only the most severe hazard on the label. As explained by the author, there are four general classes of hazards in facilities which are threats to health (blue color), flammability (red), reactivity (yellow) and water reactivity (white) with an additional symbol of radioactive propeller for radioactivity. Equally important is the discussion, although a bit too brief, on what is meant by the word “competent” in terms of emergency response personnel but it is still helpful to know that competence means having the skills, knowledge, experience and most importantly, judgment to carry out tasks assigned by an employer in whatever job category in that capacity. Further, the book also details the four classifications of emergency personnel competence which are operations level (the most basic), technician, specialist and incident commander. Chapter 2 of the book is very comprehensive in terms of the topics being covered but it is still worth reading again to be reminded of the basics in chemistry similar to what was taught back in high school class. Anyway, this chapter talks on the basics of chemistry such as the Periodic Table, the elements, atomic numbers and atomic weights but lastly, it also talked about subsequent compounds and mixtures derived from the elements and how these become hazardous materials in themselves. Only 39 out of all the elements are considered hazardous and the book discussion focuses on these 39 elements to a great extent which is good. Chapters 3 to 11 dealt with the various hazard classifications individually so that each topic material is discussed thoroughly. Chapter 3 is devoted to explosives (Class 1 hazard) and down through each chapter which are Chapter 4 (Class 2 – Compressed Gases), Chapter 5 (Class 3 – Flammable Liquids), Chapter 6 (Class 4 – Flammable Solids), Chapter 7 (Class 5 – Oxidizers), Chapter 8 (Class 6 – Poisons), Chapter 9 (Class 7 – Radioactives), Chapter 10 (Class 8 – Corrosives) and last, Chapter 11 (Class 9 – Miscellaneous Hazardous Materials). The book is relatively well organized in terms of the topics being discussed and is very conducive to learning all there is to know about hazardous materials. In general, this book is a very good guide for instructors and students alike in the field of fire fighting and emergency response services. The author is quite thorough in his discussion but clearly no one book can be sufficiently knowledgeable on a subject matter as complex as hazardous materials. What is unique about this great book is its overall emphasis on learning all about chemistry as all hazardous materials and emergency situations are the result of chemical reactions of one kind or another. Understanding the chemistry behind hazmat is the key to playing it safe when responding to emergency situations involving hazardous materials whether it stems from an accidental spill during transport, a leak at the workplace or in the worst case scenario, a massive fire involving hazmat in heavily populated civilian areas. The book contained a lot of technical details about chemistry although the author tried his best to explain complex chemical reactions as plainly as possible in simple language. As he himself correctly pointed out and warned at the beginning of the book, some of the people who need to know about basic chemistry are the ones often most reluctant to do so because of the perceived notion that chemistry is something very hard to study and learn. His advice is also well taken regarding reading and researching other materials to further enhance one’s knowledge about hazardous materials which explore this interesting topic other than from a chemistry viewpoint. However, I find the book personally very helpful because chemistry is the basis by which hazardous materials can be properly understood. A sound understanding of the basic chemistry through what he calls as street chemistry can lead to a healthy appreciation of the risks involved with hazardous materials and avoid injuries and possible death through overconfident or careless handling of the hazmat. In general, the book can be said to have very good content on the topic discussed. All emergency personnel should take the time and effort to read this book in its entirety although maybe not in one setting only but over a period of several days or weeks in order to properly absorb all the materials in the book. On this basis, I find the book highly commendable and can be recommended highly to anyone interested to know all about hazardous materials. Both the content and style of the book lend itself to a profitable and knowledgeable reading. This is expected of the book since the author is an instructor also with 25 years of experience. Conclusion I found some materials in the book to be a mere repetition of what most of us already know about basic chemistry and the elements. In this regard, some pages or chapters can be skipped entirely and a reader can focus only on the more important topics or those areas of chemistry which he feels he needs to know more about. For example, there were some details about previous accidents or incidents which could have been presented in tabular form so this will not appear as too wordy within the text body of the book. On the whole, the book is adequate in content for the material it discusses. It tried its best to cover as much as ground as possible and is quite comprehensive in terms of the topics it had individually discussed, the reason why a whole chapter is devoted to each hazard class. In terms of authenticity and expertise, there is no doubt the author is very knowledgeable. The book can therefore serve as a good reference for all emergency personnel units whether in the medical response teams or in fire fighting units of the local government. A supervisor or team leader of these emergency response units can assign the book as required reading for all their team members. Or alternatively, the team leader can hold echo seminars based on the book. In conclusion, this book is highly recommended for all people and professionals alike. It means everyone who is concerned about his personal safety as well as the safety of loved ones should read the book especially today where so many chemicals have been invented. A good example are those people who live near manufacturing facilities that produce hazmat or those communities where there are rail lines being used to transport hazardous materials. In the unlikely event of an accident, people who had read the book improve their chances of survival by being knowledgeable and can take all the necessary actions and precautions. The knowledge this book provides can make all the difference between safety and injury or death. The book is a good handy reference guide for all practical information about chemical, health and safety measures regarding hazardous materials (Foden & Weddell, 1991, p. 5). References Burke, R. (2003). Hazardous Materials Chemistry for Emergency Responders. 2nd Edition. Boca Raton, FL, USA: CRC Press. Foden, C. R. & Weddell, J. L. (1991). Hazardous Materials: Emergency Action Data. Florence, KY, USA: Taylor & Francis. Read More