Decision support systems for assessing risks involved in transporting hazardous materials: A review

The transport of hazardous materials represents a significant percentage of the total transportation costs of goods. Hazardous materials (HazMats) comprise explosives, flammables, oxidizing substances, poisonous gases, and radioactive materials. These materials can be extremely harmful to the environment and human health, since exposure to their toxic ingredients can injure or kill plants, animals, and humans. The hazards associated with HazMat transportation cannot be avoided because commodities will always need to be transported to areas of need. The risk associated with transporting a HazMat depends not only on the substance being transported, but also on the characteristics of the road network such as road type, weather conditions, drivers’ skills, and population concentration along the chosen routes. The risk associated with such an activity is essentially related to the possibility of an accident with negative environmental and public health consequences. Reducing the potential negative impacts of transporting HazMat is an important task for communities, governments, HazMat producers and shippers. Over the last few decades, systems have been developed to help decision-makers find the best solutions. Typically, the software used is a decision support system. This paper is a review on the experiences of using such systems over the last few years.