As concern over the safe transport of hazardous materials continues to grow, public officials are placing greater emphasis on the ability to conduct analyses of present practices and future policy initiatives. The capability to do this effectively is directly dependent on the quality and availability of information on previous transport accidents and incidents involving hazardous materials cargo. The objectve of this paper is to explore the reporting requirements of hazardous materials transport incidents and accidents and to determine what use is and can be made of the information that is collected and stored. It is generally concluded that the primary reporting system offers considerable information from which to conduct policy analysis. However, the quality of this information has been subject to considerable criticism. Although the secondary sources of data are, in some cases, quite good, the incongruences among secondary databases and with the primary database are such that significant improvements in the primay information system are necessary. Several recommendations are made to improve the qualtiy of hazardous materials transportation incident-accident information. They are not resource-intensive and deserve serious consideration in light of the health threats posed by hazardous materials releases. This paper appeared in transportation research record no. 1148, Hazardous materials transportation, work-zone traffic control, and traffic marking materials. For covering abstract see IRRD no 818401.
Abstract