Hazardous Chemicals Road Transportation Accidents and the Corresponding Evacuation Events from 2012 to 2020 in China: A Review

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Nov 17;19(22):15182. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192215182.

Abstract

Based on accident data from the China Chemical Accident Information Network, detailed information was obtained from 2657 hazardous chemicals road transportation accidents (HCRTAs) and 148 evacuations caused by these accidents that occurred in China from 2012 to 2020. The characteristics and the development trend of the present HCRTAs in China and the rate of emergency are obtained via statistical analysis. Based on the probability of evacuation scenarios via historical statistics, the social cost of labor loss value of participating emergency responders, and evacuees' placement and transfer cost as the consequences of evacuation events, an evacuation event grading model based on social risk assessment is constructed. Evaluating and classifying the risk of evacuation events caused by HCRTAs (148), the results demonstrated that the social risk caused by emergency scenarios F_61 (leakage due to overturning of hazardous chemical vehicles, which led to evacuation) and F_91 (leakage due to rear-end of hazardous chemical vehicles, which led to evacuation) was higher than other emergency scenarios. To reduce the dangers caused by HCRTAs, the framework for improving the emergency response capacity of communities is discussed and analyzed based on five aspects, which comprise land use planning, city construction, education promotion, information construction, and the layout of emergency resources.

Keywords: accident statistics; evacuation capacity; evacuation event classification; evacuation scenario; hazardous chemicals transport.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Accidents
  • Chemical Hazard Release*
  • China
  • Hazardous Substances* / analysis
  • Transportation

Substances

  • Hazardous Substances

Grants and funding

The work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 72074196), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos. 265QZ2021009 and 2652019066).