Characteristics of hazardous-material accidents in pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has accounted for the highest number of hazardous material incidents in the United States between 1971 and 1983, with 90% of the incidents being highway related. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has sponsored a research project that focuses on the risk assessment associated with the movement of hazardous materials and determination of corresponding vulnerable areas in the state. The risk assessment of hazardous-material movements is data intensive, and its analysis depends on several data sources and on the quality of the input data. Three data bases are analyzed for this project: (1) The Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) hazardous material incident reports (HMIR); (2) the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety (BMCS) truck accident data base; and (3) the Pennsylvania State traffic accident data base for hazardous material. In addition to the individual analysis, a comparison among these data bases was also made. The comparison was conducted to find out whether the characteristics of accidents and incidents are consistent in different data bases.