Mitigating chemical risk: ERG guidebook for Russian-speaking countries

The Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG) is a reference manual used by many first responders worldwide (https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/hazmat/erg/emergency-response-guidebook-erg). It assists rescue professionals in recognizing accidents involving hazardous chemicals, identifying life-threatening substances, selecting protection equipment and evacuation strategies, mitigating damages on victims and the environment and, ultimately, saving lives. The ERG is published every four years in English, French and Spanish. No Russian version of the text has been published so far and this limits the use of it by professionals in Eastern European and Central Asian countries, where Russian is the main working and communication language. A Russian version of the guidebook has been completed in January 2023 in the framework of IUPAC Project 2020-020-2-600 “Enhancing capabilities for the mitigation of chemical risk: the dissemination of the Emergency Response Guidebook in Russian-speaking countries”, (https://iupac.org/project/2020-020-2-600). The Project was proposed and is managed by the IUPAC Chemistry and the Environment Division, in collaboration with the Chemistry and Human Health Division, the Committee on Chemistry Education, the International Cooperation and Assistance Division of the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition or Chemical Weapons (OPCW; https://www.opcw.org/about/technical-secretariat/divisions/international-cooperation-and-assistance) and the Italian National Adhering Organization (CNR-NAO; https://www.iupac.cnr.it/). The Russian translation of the ERG booklet is now available for free download at the Project’s website. The diffusion of this translated manual will broaden the range of final users and will enhance the preparedness and response capability across Central Asian and Eastern European countries, in terms of private workers’ and public safety, environmental protection and resilience against unintentional natural events, industrial accidents or criminal acts involving the use of hazardous chemicals.