Risk Management in Road Transportation: Hazardous Materials

Abstract

Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among people aged 5 to 29 years, and are among the top 10 causes of death in all age groups. The United Nations reports that 1.19 million people die each year from this cause, which means that traffic accidents kill one person every two minutes and that there are more than 3,200 deaths per day. 

The road transportation of chemicals is ranked as one of the highest potential impacts on health, property and the environment. The dynamics of an accident involving chemical products will not only result in a collision or other impact on public roads that could cause death, injury or damage, but will also include the impact produced by the reaction of the chemical product being transported. Therefore, this article proposes a simple step-by-step methodology for risk management in road transportation.