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The transportation of hazardous material (hereinafter referred to as Hazmat) is different from general cargo. If a Hazmat road transportation accident occurs, it will not only cause significant casualties and road network damage but also threaten the safety of the lives and property of the residents near the road. Therefore, a quantitative vulnerability analysis of the Hazmat road transportation network is developed to assess the vulnerability of each link, which can help improve the road transportation risk management level. First, we propose an indicator to measure the relevance between two links based on comprehensive analysis of the road transportation network topology and Hazmat road transportation risk characteristics. Second, we discover that we cannot identify road vulnerability using only topology and risk characteristics alone. Thus, an Impact Strength model is developed to assess Hazmat road transportation vulnerability. This model is based on the classical Gravity model and considers both topology and risk characteristics. Relevant algorithms are proposed accordingly. Third, we use Guangzhou’s Hazmat highway transportation as a case study to verify our Impact Strength model. The related statistics data are collected, and ArcGIS software is employed. By using this model, we can calculate the Impact Strength of each link in the whole transportation network. The empirical results verify that this innovative Impact Strength model can help to identify the links with significant vulnerabilities, which can thus help to reduce road transportation risk in advance and build the road transportation risk early-warning mechanism. This innovative model can also be used to support the relevant decision-making process for further analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been a considerable increase in the international transport of containers with dangerous goods, increasing the risk of seaports and surrounding cities together with the introduction of inherent environmental and security disaster risks. Therefore, there is an increasing interest in seaports that are more socially inclusive, addressing the storage of containers of hazardous goods to safe inland terminals. An appropriate design of inland terminals for containers with dangerous goods (ITDGs) may contribute to the achievement of a sustainable development and the minimization of risks, avoiding disasters such as Tianjin. The objective of this study was the analysis of the criteria used for the design of safe, secure, cost efficient and greener ITDGs by applying the multicriteria decision theory AHP (analytic hierarchy process). Criteria regarding safety and security, environmental care, productivity and information and communication technologies (ICT) have been considered simultaneously into a total performance management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents theoretical approach for ensuring ADR safety. Whole spectrum of object constituting aspects is described in the light of the system methodology, with parallel identification of the system elements, relations between the elements as well as common aims and operational directions. Consequently, author's interpretation of ADR safety system is highlighted. Its implementation into relevant Polish determinants allows to analyze them in strictly practical dimensions and notice that main entities (institutions, services, entrepreneurs etc.) participating in ensuring ADR safety are connected by unique relations stated by law, trade and practical requirements. Such kind of research perspective is valuable especially from efficiency point of view. Accordingly to the Polish school of praxeology, the safety system can be analyzed by efficiency mechanisms, covering many different realms of safety-related operations (e.g. effectiveness, economy, rationality). In the paper a network methodology for identification of the crucial system efficiency determinants is used. Thus, practical development issues of ADR safety system are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transport of hazardous materials represents a significant percentage of the total transportation costs of goods. Hazardous materials (HazMats) comprise explosives, flammables, oxidizing substances, poisonous gases, and radioactive materials. These materials can be extremely harmful to the environment and human health, since exposure to their toxic ingredients can injure or kill plants, animals, and humans. The hazards associated with HazMat transportation cannot be avoided because commodities will always need to be transported to areas of need. The risk associated with transporting a HazMat depends not only on the substance being transported, but also on the characteristics of the road network such as road type, weather conditions, drivers’ skills, and population concentration along the chosen routes. The risk associated with such an activity is essentially related to the possibility of an accident with negative environmental and public health consequences. Reducing the potential negative impacts of transporting HazMat is an important task for communities, governments, HazMat producers and shippers. Over the last few decades, systems have been developed to help decision-makers find the best solutions. Typically, the software used is a decision support system. This paper is a review on the experiences of using such systems over the last few years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To research the processes and features of cascading failure in hazardous materials transportation network (HMTN) after attacked by terrorist is helpful to guide system construction and improve its invulnerability. Based on the analysis of HMTN and characteristics of terrorist attacks, it established a two layers model for HMTN, and discussed the cascading failure process of HMTN under signal terrorist attack and series terrorist attacks by defining three types of node state. Based on this, it established the model of cascading failure in HMTN under series of terrorist attacks. From the perspective of "result" and "process", the invulnerability indicators and their calculation which are "node survival rate" and "number of the second relative cascading failure" were proposed. By establishing the scene and simulation flow chart, the different times of terrorist attacks, different node's degree, different capacity coefficient and different planning mode of HMTN under cascading failure were quantitatively researched. Simulation results show that the model is feasible, and which can provide decision basis to the planning of HMTN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Awareness of hazmat requirements and risk lags behind EHS awareness [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation of dangerous goods (DGs) can significantly affect human life and the environment if accidents occur during the transportation process. Therefore, safe DG transportation is of vital importance, especially in high-density living environments. Effective routing of DG shipments is thus essential to the lowering of risk associated with DG transportation. DG routing is inherently a multicriteria, multiobjective problem in which various factors, such as cost, safety, public and environmental exposure, need to be simultaneously considered. We develop in this paper a multiobjective genetic algorithm (MOGA) for the determination of optimal routes for DG transportation under conflicting objectives. Implemented within the geographical information system environment, the MOGA approach is applied to the transportation of liquefied petroleum gas in the road network of Hong Kong. Experimental results in this case study substantiate the conceptual arguments and demonstrate the good performance of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As conceptualized and put forward by Kletz, avoiding hazard at first instance is always desirable than trying to protect or manage it. However, there could be certain hazards which may not be possible to be totally eliminated and thus shall be analyzed and assessed in order to either reduce the probability of occurrence or limit the severity of consequences. Trevor's methodologies on HAZOP and hazard analysis (HAZAN) for process hazards are quite straightforward where the hazard is considered as a point source unlike hazmat transportation which is a moving source of hazard. The authors applied the HAZAN techniques to the transportation risk assessment of three different United Nations classes of hazardous materials (hazmats) through important industrial corridors of Surat district in western India that helped local authorities not only to decide on the minimum risk routes to regulate hazmat traffic but also to prepare an effective evacuation and emergency response strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-agency emergency exercises establish and reinforce relationships, and bring people from different areas together to work as a team, realise clear goals, understand roles and responsibilities, and get to know and respect each agency's strengths and weaknesses. However, despite the long-held belief in and respect for exercises in their provision of benefits to the individual and the organisation, there is little evidence of a consistent and clear process for exercise design, especially identifying the documents that may need to be completed to ensure efficient exercise preparation and performance. This paper reports the results of a project undertaken on behalf of the organisations that form the radioactive material transportation mutual-aid agreement, RADSAFE, to develop a standardised process to design emergency exercises. Three stages, from identifying the requirement for an exercise (Stage I), through to obtaining approval for operational orders (Stage II), then conducting a management review as part of the continuous improvement cycle (Stage III), were developed. Although designed for radioactive material transportation events, it is suggested that many of the factors within these three stages can be generalised for the design of exercises in other high-hazard industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transport of hazardous materials (hazmats) poses a threat to society and the environment. Beyond the issues pertaining to unintentional events, the potential exists for hazmat vehicles to be used for malicious purposes. A key to combating this threat is the detection of vehicle deviations from their normal paths. This article presents a probabilistic neural network approach to identifying path deviations and classifying the threat level at each node in the network. The methodology is illustrated on the network between Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The selected model obtained an accuracy of 93.51%, which was not the highest of all the models. Selection should depend not only on the overall error rate but also on the error severity. One-category errors (e.g., classifying dangerous nodes as suspicious) were less severe than two-category errors (e.g., classifying dangerous nodes as safe). False positives, which require a response from a system monitor or law enforcement, were considered as well as false negatives, which do not send warnings when they should. The selected neural network would require more human involvement but would provide a more secure transportation network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific construction of risk is usually based on the probability of an event occurring in a specific location from a specific hazard. Hazardous waste transport is an example of a risk source that is fixed in neither time nor space, with materials traveling through the landscape. Residents living along fixed transportation routes likely to experience an increase in the amount and potency of hazardous materials traveling through their communities draw on distant places and spaces in order to define the risk they face as they try to make absent places and materials present. However, because those places and spaces are distant and absent, regulatory officials can resist their inclusion by arguing that only what is on site matters. This site of struggle over sources and construction of risks can best be understood through Law and Mol's spatiality of fire space. Using two North American case studies, this paper draws on the concepts of fire space and mobilities to explain the nature of the risk that mobile materials pose, including the disconnect between citizens' objections to increased hazardous materials transport and the environmental review and regulatory processes meant to prevent catastrophes from occurring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of Environment Management Systems (EMS) commenced as a response to global environmental issues and as a recognition of awareness that sustainable development is prerequisite for keeping the natural system in a proper balance. Transport of dangerous goods by road is quite a complex activity that poses a major potential threat to people and the environment. Therefore, the introduction of certain system tools (standardization of business) contributes to a safer and better road transport operations of dangerous goods. Chemical industry combining their efforts for safety and the environment under the Responsible care program (RC). Such efforts have resulted in the development Safety and Quality Assessment System (SQAS) to assess the haulers. This paper presents tools standardization of business as an opportunity to improve the market positions of dangerous goods haulers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The authors present a framework for a geographic information systems (GIS)-based decision support system (DSS) designed to provide online routing instructions in response to updated information on traffic and weather conditions for vehicles transporting hazardous materials. Embedded within the DSS is a heuristic that exploits a spatially and temporally rolling horizon. The heuristic is implemented using standard, widely available tools to facilitate adoption by decision makers. The DSS's ability to dynamically update instructions in response to real-time information is demonstrated along the corridor between the metropolitan areas of Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the importance of developing transportation risk management (TRM) program in the supply chain. According to the author, effective TRM framework balances safety and security in the transportation of hazardous materials, with operational efficiency. Moreover, the framework is designed to enable companies to tailor their transportation risk management process to their specific applications.

Abstract: In the Netherlands, the Betuweline is a dedicated freight railway. It will, among other things, be used for transportation of all kinds of hazardous materials from the Port of Rotterdam to the German Hinterland and vice versa. The line is approximately 150km long. Alongside the line, more than 100km noise shields have been constructed. The question is how, and to what extent, this noise shield will affect the pool shape and size of an instantaneous release of a flammable liquid, such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). In case of an instantaneous release of liquid from a rail tanker (50m3), both risk analysts and emergency responders use a circular pool shape of about 600m2 would result. To assess the influence of a noise shield, a full scale test was conducted on an already constructed part of the Betuweline. A rail tanker was filled with 50m3 red-colored environmentally safe liquid. The liquid was instantaneously released. A very peculiar pool shape actually results due to the presence of a noise shield. A zone between the rails and the noise shield (2m wide and 90m long) is within 2–3min filled with 15cm of liquid. The total pool size area was about 750m2. Both shape and size deviate substantially from the traditional figures. These insights are both relevant to emergency responders for disaster abatement purposes and to risk analysts for effective modeling purposes. The Dutch Ministry of Transport is examining possible strategies to deal with these results. The results of this study are based upon one single instantaneous release test. In addition, it is valuable to find out what the pool shape and size would be in case of a continuous release from the rail tanker near a noise shield. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Environmental Management (EM), is actively pursuing activities to reduce the radiological risk and clean up the environmental legacy of the nation's nuclear weapons programmes. The EM has made significant progress in recent years in the clean-up and closure of sites and is also focusing on longer term activities necessary for the completion of the clean-up programme. The packaging and transportation of contaminated demolition debris and low level waste materials in a safe and cost effective manner are essential in completing this mission. Toward this end, the US Department of Transportation's Final Rule on Hazardous Materials Regulation issued on 26 January 2004, included a new provision authorising the use of freight containers (e.g. 20 and 40 ft ISO containers) as industrial packages type 2 or 3. This paper will discuss the technical and regulatory considerations in using these newly authorised and large packages for the packaging and transportation of low level waste materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the MITRA (monitoring and intervention for the transportation of dangerous goods) project was to prototype a new operational system for monitoring the transportation of dangerous goods in Europe based on regional responsibilities. This concept, based on systems used in air traffic control, aims to provide civil security centres with real-time knowledge of the position and contents of dangerous vehicles circulating in their area of responsibility, and, in the event of a dangerous situation, to issue warnings, alerts and crisis management information, thereby allowing intervention teams to react immediately with maximum safety. The project was funded by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Programme (STREP – specific targeted research project – under the Information Society Technologies priority). It started on 1 September 2004 and ended on 31 October 2006. This paper presents the results of this project and the conclusions derived from the field tests carried out in Germany and in the French/Spanish border region in order to test the proposed operational system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The most-widely used definition of risk in the hazardous materials transportation literature is the expected consequence of an incident (accident resulting in a release), which, for each edge of the network, is equal to the product of the incident probability and a quantifiable consequence (such as number of people evacuated). This definition ignores the risk-averse attitudes of many decision-makers when dealing with low probability/high consequence events. We suggest that avoiding a catastrophe (an incident with a very large consequence) may be a relevant issue in routing hazardous materials, and we introduce three different catastrophe-avoidance models. In the first model, catastrophe avoidance is achieved by minimizing the maximum population exposure. In the second model, the variance of the route consequence is incorporated into the decision. In the third model, an explicit disutility function is used. We show that all three models reduce to a standard shortest path problem. Each model avoids high-population areas of the transport network. We give numerical examples and discuss the similarities and the differences among the three models. The first of the three models suggested may be the most intuitive, and is the most tractable computationally. Implementation of the other two models may be difficult due to scaling issues. Nevertheless, these models offer theoretical insight that may be valuable to researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercially available tracking systems based on advanced communications and computing technology allow a dispatcher of hazardous material transports to monitor the movement of vehicles on a transportation network in real time. When unexpected events occur, a dispatcher working with this new technology can identify the regions surrounding the transportation network that are affected by these events and determine safe and cost-effective routes for the vehicles that plan to drive through those regions. Four decision models for rerouting hazardous material vehicles in real-time have been assessed in an experimental setting. The first model supports a dispatcher in finding alternative routes (visually), while the second model adds to the display, for each vehicle, an alternative route based on a conservative heuristic. The other two models are based on an ordinal preference and a numerical utility structure to support the dispatcher in determining the impact of the events on transportation safety and costs. The models were embedded into four decision support systems that use multimedia technology to simulate the dispatchers workstations. These systems were then used in an experiment at the dispatching school in Wil, Switzerland, with 32 experienced dispatchers and truck drivers to assess efficiency and accuracy of the four models. The results show that assessing risks and costs with the ordinal preference structure, prior to making routing decisions, is significantly more efficient and accurate than searching directly for new routes. Using a numerical scale for safety and cost assessment was disliked by the subjects and led to inferior results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the final rule published by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in the March 9, 2010 Federal Register which modifies security plan requirements for the transportation of hazardous materials. The rule claims that DOT's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) makes a tiered approach that imposes requirements for security risk materials. It says that the rule narrows the list of materials that are subject to the requirements to avoid risks.

The article reports that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has published a final rule amending requirements in the Hazardous Materials Regulations for the transportation of hazardous materials by aircrafts. This rule clarifies the exceptions from regulation for operator equipment and supplies, special aircraft operations, and passengers and crewmembers. It also revises separation distances for the shipment of radioactive materials by cargo aircrafts and updates the regulations to comply with security requirements for explosive special permits.