A survey on hazardous materials accidents during road transport in China from 2000 to 2008.
A study of 322 accidents that occurred during the road transport of hazardous materials (hazmat) in China from 2000 to 2008 was carried out. The results showed an increase in the frequency of accidents from 2000 to 2007 and a decline in 2008. More than 63% of the accidents occurred in the eastern coastal areas, 25.5% in the central inland areas, and only 10.9% in the western remote areas. The most frequent types of accident were releases (84.5%), followed by gas clouds (13.0%), fires (10.2%), no substance released due to timely measures (9.9%), and explosions (5.9%). The spatial distribution, the causes and consequences of the accidents related to the population (e.g., number of people killed, injured, evacuated, or poisoned), and environment elements were analyzed. Finally, conclusions are drawn concerning the need to improve certain safety measures in the road transport of hazmat in China.
Yang
Jie
J
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resources Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China; School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215011, China.
Li
Fengying
F
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resources Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China; School of Environment Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China.
Zhou
Jingbo
J
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215011, China.
Zhang
Ling
L
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resources Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
Huang
Lei
L
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resources Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China. Electronic address: huanglei@nju.edu.cn.
Bi
Jun
J
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resources Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China. Electronic address: jbi@nju.edu.cn.
D000059:Accidents; D002681:China; D003625:Data Collection; D015386:Hazardous Substances; D014186:Transportation
D015386:Hazardous Substances