T9-4 - Chemical accident risks in U.S. industry—A preliminary analysis of accident risk data from U.S. hazardous chemical facilities

Abstract

The U.S. Congress passed a series of law after the chemical accident of Bhopal, India and few large chemical accidents in United States to minimize the likelihood and consequences of catastrophic chemical accidents. The Risk management program that took place in 1999 requires certain chemical facilities to implement chemical accident prevention and preparedness measures, and to submit summary reports to the government every five years. So the data have been assembled into a searchable computerized database called “Risk Management Plan (RMP)." The full RMP database is intended to be available to the general public via the Internet so that general public can use the information and to allow researchers to identify factors statistically associated with accident-prone or accident-free facility performance. But the chemical industry and U.S. security agencies raised concerns that some of the data would allow terrorists to easily identify those facilities likely to cause the greatest harm to the public in the event of a release, and thus, target those facilities for attack. So concerns prompted Congress to pass legislation that complete database is only accessible by a relatively few individuals at EPA headquarters; with the exception of one other preliminary study that considered only its non-restricted portions, it has not been a subject to the robust statistical analysis that might lead to identifying accident indicators or causal factors. However, the full value in this database can only be realized if it is made available to organizations with the willingness and capability to rigorously analyze the data and publish the results.