Emerging Technologies Applicable To Hazardous Materials Transportation Safety And Security

"Explores near-term (less than 5 years) and longer-term (5-10 years) technologies that are candidates for enhancing the safety and security of hazardous materials transportation for use by shippers, carriers, emergency responders, or government regulatory and enforcement agencies. The report examines emerging generic technologies that hold promise of being introduced during these near- and longer-term spans. It also highlights potential impediments (e.g., technical, economic, legal, and institutional) to, and opportunities for, their development, deployment, and maintenance. The research focused on all modes used to transport hazardous materials (trucking, rail, marine, air, and pipeline) and resulted in the identification of nine highly promising emerging technologies."--Provided by publisher.

Organised by University of Rome 'La Sapienza', Italy, Wessex Institute of Technology, UK.

In the last few years, logistics has become a strategic factor for development and competition. In fact, research and development activities have traditionally faced the management of supply chain and international transport focussing on two main aspects: speed and efficiency. However, several vulnerabilities have recently been highlighted under a safety and security viewpoint. The weakness of the logistic chains has become more evident with the beginning of the new millennium. Terrorist attacks, such as the 11th of September 2001 in the USA, have caused the introduction of new rules and procedures, which affect the overall logistics showing the vulnerability of the global economy. So, nowadays, it would appear anachronistic to carry out an exhaustive research activity on the supply chain with no relation to the various typologies of risk, which may affect it. This book aims to effectively represent the current status of research on dangerous goods transport.

This report examines the challenges of advancing the use of electronic shipping papers as an alternative to the current paper-based hazardous materials communication system. Paper copy hazardous materials shipping papers have several drawbacks: they are labor intensive and subject to human error; they are perishable and may not be available to emergency responders in the event of an incident; and they are difficult to exchange between modes or different vehicles within a mode. The use of internationally compatible electronic data-sharing technologies could significantly improve the exchange of hazardous materials shipping information among shippers, carriers, regulatory agencies, and emergency responders. Timely access to accurate hazardous materials shipping information will likely reduce errors in information exchange, improve efficiency, enhance security, and improve the response efforts in the event of a hazardous materials incident.

This book shows how Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) can be used for operations management in public institutions. It covers theory and practical applications, ranging from tracking public health trends to mapping transportation routes to charting the safest handling of hazardous materials. Along with an expert line-up of contributors and case studies, the editor provides a complete overview of how to use GIS as part of a successful, collaborative data analysis, and how to translate the information into cost-saving decisions, or even life-saving ones.

Written in a clear language, for use by scholars, managers and decisionmakers, this practical guide to the hot topic is unique in treating the security aspects of hazmat transportation from both uni-modal and multi-modal perspectives. To begin with, each transport mode and its relation to security vulnerability, analyses, figures, and approaches is discussed separately. Secondly, the optimization process of a hazmat supply chain is examined from a holistic, integrated viewpoint. Finally, the book discusses and compares the various hazmat transport security policies and strategies adopted in various regions around the world. The result is a must-have source of high-quality information including many case studies.