Decision making in hazardous materials transportation

Abstract

There are presently countless methods of risk analysis/risk assessment to make effective judgments of the safety of the movement of particular cargoes. Two tools to determine the hazard presented by a large quantity of hazardous materials are the “Equivalent Safety Concept” developed by Danahy and Gathy and the “Population Vulnerability Model” developed by Enviro Control, Inc. The Equivalent Safety Concept is a noncomputer technique that develops indexes for cargo hazard, for vessel design, and port safety. These are used to assist in a judgmental decision of authorization of vessel transit. The Population Vulnerability Model is a computer simulation of a cargo spill integrated with census data. The damage to life and property are calculated using the census data and the cargo properties to determine the number of deaths and injuries to personnel and dollar loss from the cargo release. The results and relative hazards calculated using these techniques are compared and analyzed.