Logistics of dangerous goods : a GLOBAL risk assessment approach
Abstract
Accidents can occur in both hazardous sites and during transportation of dangerous goods. Separate risk assessments for hazardous sites and dangerous goods transportation can lead to incoherent decisions that may increase global risk rather than reduce it. ''GLOBAL'' is a research project that started three years ago with the ambition of addressing the issue of dangerous goods logistics. As a result, a risk assessment approach that takes into account the risk generated by a whole supply chain of dangerous goods has been elaborated. Thus, the risks generated by the packaging, loading, storage and transportation of dangerous goods can be assessed within a unique and coherent framework. The relevance of such an approach can be justified in numerous ways. Firstly, it allows the industrial stakeholders to identify the best supply chains regarding, among other criteria, the resulting societal risks. It also makes it possible to have an homogeneous basis for land use planning regarding the risks generated by hazardous sites as well as logistics infrastructures of dangerous goods. The aim of this paper is to present the GLOBAL risk assessment approach and its scientific foundations in a first part, its limits and development perspectives in a second part