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Emergency Response Planning Guidelines (ERPGs)

ERPGs are exposure guidelines designed to anticipate health effects from exposure to certain airborne

chemical concentrations.

This page discusses the following topics:

What are ERPGs?

How are ERPGs chosen?

What substances have ERPGs?

How should ERPGs be used?

How does ALOHA use ERPGs?

What are ERPGs? • top

ERPGs estimate the concentrations at which most people will begin to

experience health effects if they are exposed to a hazardous airborne

chemical for 1 hour. (Sensitive members of the public—such as old, sick, or

very young people—aren't covered by these guidelines and they may

experience adverse effects at concentrations below the ERPG values.) A

chemical may have up to three ERPG values, each of which corresponds to

a specific tier of health effects.

The three ERPG tiers are defined as follows:

ERPG-3 is the maximum airborne concentration below which it is

believed that nearly all individuals could be exposed for up to 1 hour

without experiencing or developing life-threatening health effects.

ERPG-2 is the maximum airborne concentration below which it is

believed that nearly all individuals could be exposed for up to 1 hour

without experiencing or developing irreversible or other serious health

effects or symptoms which could impair an individual's ability to take

protective action.

ERPG-1 is the maximum airborne concentration below which it is

believed that nearly all individuals could be exposed for up to 1 hour

without experiencing other than mild transient health effects or

perceiving a clearly defined, objectionable odor.

How are ERPGs chosen? • top

ERPGs are developed by the Emergency Response Planning committee of the

American Industrial Hygiene Association. The ERPG guidelines are clearly defined and based on extensive,

current data. The rationale for selecting each value is explained, and other pertinent information is also

provided. Each guideline identifies the substance, its chemical and structural properties, animal toxicology

data, human experience, existing exposure guidelines, the rationale behind the selected value, and a list of

references. To find out more about the ERPG development process, go to the ERPG Program website.

What substances have ERPGs? • top

As of mid-2013, about 145 chemicals have ERPGs (see the current list of substances that have ERPGs [PDF,

487 KB]). You can also search for a specific substance on the CAMEO Chemicals site to find response

recommendations and chemical data (including ERPGs).

How should ERPGs be used? • top

ERPGs should be used to help protect the public when AEGLs aren't available and there has been a chemical

release that is short-term in duration. ERPGs estimate how nearly all of the public (except for sensitive

individuals) would react to a release of this nature, so they can be used to identify areas where a hazard

exists if the concentration of hazardous gas is exceeded for the specified exposure duration. For example, in

areas with concentrations just above the ERPG-1, most people would experience temporary, non-disabling

effects. On the other hand, in areas with concentrations just above the ERPG-2, most people would

experience significant—but not life-threatening—health effects.

These guidelines are focused on one period of time: 1 hour. Exposure in the field may be longer or shorter.

However, the American Industrial Hygiene Association strongly advises against trying to extrapolate ERPG

values to longer periods of time.

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5/18/2014 EmergencyResponse Planning Guidelines (ERPGs) | response.restoration.noaa.gov

http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/erpgs 2/2

ERPGs shouldn't be used as:

Guidelines for workers who are routinely exposed to chemicals for longer durations. In such cases, you

should use workplace exposure limits, because they contain safety factors specific to that type of

exposure.

Guidelines for members of the public who are exposed to background chemical releases for longer

durations. In these types of air quality issues, values such as the National Ambient Air Quality Standards

(NAAQS) should be used rather than emergency response guidelines.

How does ALOHA use ERPGs? • top

In ALOHA, you can choose ERPGs as your toxic Levels of Concern (LOCs) when modeling a toxic chemical

release—if ERPGs have been defined for that chemical. ALOHA allows you to specify up to three toxic LOCs.

So, you can choose the ERPG-1, ERPG-2, and ERPG-3 values to generate a threat zone estimate where

yellow, orange, and red zones indicate areas where those values were predicted to be exceeded at some

point after the chemical release began. (To determine how long the LOC was exceeded at a particular

location, read the Ask Dr. ALOHA article on working with the concentration graph.)

For chemicals defined under the ERPG classification system, ALOHA will provide the ERPG values as the

default toxic LOCs until AEGL values are established.

Public Exposure Guidelines AEGLs ERPGs TEELs PACs

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