Risk Assessment of Transportation of Dangerous Goods

Hazardous materials are defined to be the substances that can have harmful effects for human, environment and property. These risks exist due to the nature, the hazardous properties or the state of the above materials. Industrial needs as well as several human activities depend on the daily transportation of dangerous goods. The percentage of road accidents in which hazardous materials are involved, increases every year. The consequences of the above accidents cannot be compared to the ones of simple collisions in terms of seriousness. Risks involved in transportation because of freight’s hazardous properties (toxicity, flammability, corrosiveness etc) are probable to give an extended radius to the affected area during an accident. A methodology for the risk assessment during road transportation of hazardous materials has been developed. Two critical factors have been taken into consideration. The first one is the probability of an outcome (release of toxic materials, different types of fires and explosions of flammable materials) during accident occurrence, which has been estimated through consequence analysis. The second is the consequences of the outcome (thermal radiation, overpressure, toxic load) and has been calculated through modeling.