Environment–accident index: validation of a model

Abstract

Authorities and industry often have difficulties knowing what to focus on when it comes to risk assessment in the handling of chemicals. Hence, there is a requirement for a tool to facilitate this work. The Environment–Accident−Index (EAI) is proposed as such a tool. EAI is a simple model that gives guidance as to the identification and quick ranking of the kind of assessment to be performed. EAI is built on three parts: the first part contains information on the acute toxicity to aquatic organisms, the second part concerns the transported or stored amount of the chemical and the third part deals with chemical mobility. For example, the mobility part contains chemical–physical properties of the substance and those of the surrounding environment, such as the possibility of soil penetration and depth and mobility of the groundwater. The purpose of the EAI is to be an implement, to be used by authorities and industry, when planning for the storage and transportation of chemicals, amongst other uses. The model is intended to be simple to facilitate and increase the use of EAI. The results show that EAI is quite capable of becoming a useful tool for ranking different hazards and that EAI is a good basis for further development of the model. The results also show that there is a lack of environmental data available from chemical accidents and that a better system for environmental follow-up of chemical accidents would have facilitated and given a better foundation to the evaluation. The evaluation has been performed by Åsa Scott, Defence Research Establishment, by order of the Swedish Rescue Services Agency and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. An evaluation group has supported and guided the work. The evaluation group has, besides the Swedish Rescue Services Agency, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and Defence Research Establishment included experts from the National Chemicals Inspectorate in Sweden and the Association of Swedish Chemical Industries. The paper is an evaluation of EAI and discusses the present usefulness of the index and conceivable changes for the future.