Title: Decision-support software tools for integrated risk assessment of hazardous substances in complex terrain

Authors: Adrian V. Gheorghe, Dan V. Vamanu

Addresses: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. ' Institute for Atomic Physics, Bucharest, Romania

Abstract: This paper presents the ongoing research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, related to the design and implementation of an IDSS (integrated decision support system) dedicated to integrated risk assessment and safety management with application to the transportation of hazardous substances. One of the goals is to construct advanced models to estimate (a) the optimal routing for transportation of hazardous substances and (b) optimise plans for emergency preparedness and management in case of potential (severe) accidents. As an output of this activity one aims at designing tools to represent risk to the public by using a GIS calculation platform, generically applicable to Switzerland. Though a database of some 700 chemicals is available, epichlorohydrin is the hazardous substance targeted in the first phase.

Keywords: complex terrain; decision support systems; integrated DSS; IDSS; geographic information systems; GIS; integrated risk assessment; multi-criteria analysis; hazardous substances transport; safety management; optimal routing; emergency preparedness; emergency management; Switzerland; chemicals.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.1998.028251

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 1998 Vol.9 No.4, pp.352 - 370

Published online: 15 Sep 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article