Characteristics, Cause, and Severity Analysis for Hazmat Transportation Risk Management

Li Zhou, Chun Guo, Yunxiao Cui, Jianjun Wu, Ying Lv and Zhiping Du
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Li Zhou: School of Information, Beijing Wuzi University, Beijing 101149, China
Chun Guo: Key Laboratory of Transport Industry of Big Data Application Technologies for Comprehensive Transport, Ministry of Transport, Institute of Transportation System Science and Engineering, School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Yunxiao Cui: Key Laboratory of Transport Industry of Big Data Application Technologies for Comprehensive Transport, Ministry of Transport, Institute of Transportation System Science and Engineering, School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Jianjun Wu: State Key Laboratory of Rail Traffic Control and Safety, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Ying Lv: Key Laboratory of Transport Industry of Big Data Application Technologies for Comprehensive Transport, Ministry of Transport, Institute of Transportation System Science and Engineering, School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Zhiping Du: School of Logistics, Beijing Wuzi University, Beijing 101149, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-24

Abstract: The accidents caused by hazardous material during road transportation may result in catastrophic losses of lives and economics, as well as damages to the environment. Regarding the deficiencies in the information systems of hazmat transportation accidents, this study conducts a survey of 371 accidents with consequence Levels II to V involving road transportation in China from 2004–2018. The study proposes a comprehensive analysis framework for understanding the overall status associated with key factors of hazmat transportation in terms of characteristics, cause, and severity. By incorporating the adaptive data analysis techniques and tackling uncertainty, the preventative measures can be carried out for supporting safety management in hazmat transportation. Thus, this study firstly analyzed spatial–temporal trends to understand the major characteristics of hazmat transportation accidents. Secondly, it presented a quantitative description of the relation among the hazmat properties, accident characteristics, and the consequences of the accidents using the decision tree approach. Thirdly, an enhanced F-N curve-based analysis method that can describe the relationship between cumulative probability F and number of deaths N , was proposed under the power-law distribution and applied to several practical data sets for severity analysis. It can evaluate accident severity of hazmat material by road transportation while taking into account uncertainty in terms of data sources. Through the introduction of the as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) principle for determining acceptable and tolerable levels, it is indicated that the F-N curves are above the tolerable line for most hazmat accident scenarios. The findings can provide an empirically supported theoretical basis for the decision-makers to take action to reduce accident frequencies and risks for effective hazmat transportation management.

Keywords: Hazmat transportation; accident characteristic; decision tree; F-N curve; uncertainty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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