Risk Criteria for the Transportation of Hazardous Materials

Abstract

The Netherlands is a densely populated country. On an area of 40,000 km² live, work and recreate about 15 million people. There is also a high degree of industrialization, including chemical plants, storage facilities, harbors and transportation. Within all these activities hazardous materials are involved. Handling hazardous materials introduces a risk due to the possibility of accidents affecting the population. Therefore, a great number of safety measures should be attempted to protect the population as much as possible by trying to avoid the occurrence of accidents and to limit the effects of a possible accident. Nevertheless, as learned from major accidents in the past, safety rules and regulations may not be enough to achieve a certain level of protection. In these cases a separation is needed between activities with dangerous goods and living areas. The problem even increases because of a tendency to build living areas in the direction of industrial activities. The reason for this development is lack of space and the asking to minimize the distances between home and work.