Comprehensive Review on Risk Assessment Methodologies for Hazmat Transportation Between 1995-2015

Issue related to safety, health and environmental has become major priority to be concerned of in the transportation of hazardous materials (HAZMAT) worldwide. Due to the high risk that entailed in the operation of HAZMAT transportation, many accidents in this industry have been reported which include chemicals spillage, fire and explosion. The accidents have caused disastrous impacts directly or indirectly to people, property and the environment. In order to quantify the degree of hazards and risks of these unwanted events, various assessment methods have been introduced either by the academia, the industry as well as the authority. The methods present various approaches for the assessment, ranging from a simple to highly complicated ones depending on the purpose of the assessment and the available resources and constraints. To date there is yet any study conducted to review those available methods. This paper intends to present a comprehensive review of the existing methods for hazards and risks assessment of HAZMAT transportation between years 1995-2015. The transportation mode includes via road, marine, railway, air and pipeline system. Based on careful screening of the abundance of methods available, 151 of them were selected – that is those specifically meant for hazards and risks assessment only. The methods are reviewed for their type of assessment; either qualitative, quantitative or hybrid techniques, as well as their application in different mode of transportation system. Also, statistical analysis of the reviewed publications was performed to summarize these previous works in terms of the type of journal, year of publication and financial support received by each study.