THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLANNING GUIDELINES

In 1988, the Emergency Response Planning Guideline Committee was formed to review a series of documents summarizing chemical toxicity which had been developed by a combined interindustry effort. This Committee, is a part of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and is composed of representatives from academia, government and industry, with backgrounds in industrial hygiene, medicine and toxicology. Since its founding, the Committee has published 35 review documents containing recommendations for emergency exposure planning levels. Currently, the Committee is working on another 25. Most of the chemicals selected for this process are on the SARA Title III Extremely Hazardous Substance List or the OSHA Highly Hazardous Chemical List.