Risk assessment for the transport of goods through road tunnels

This paper is written for the specific purpose of the International Workshop on Promotion of Technical Harmonisation on Risk-based Decision Making organised by the European Commission - DG JRC to be held between 22 and 24 May, 2000 in Stresa (Italy). Its main aim is to present personal views of the authors concerning QRA development and use. The authors have been part of an international team in charge of the development of a software dedicated to assessment of risk due to transport of Dangerous Goods (DGs) by road. They have also used the QRA software and assessed risk for real cases. Tunnels represent singularities where risk per km may be high, so special care has been taken so as to explore their contribution when a risk assessment is performed for a whole route including tunnels. Presentation will focus on QRA for transport of goods through road tunnels (by Heavy Good Vehicles : HGVs). These personal views have been also expressed by filling out a questionnaire sent to all experts attending the workshop and addressing detailed points on QRA development and use

Development and validation of a method for measuring biogas emissions using a dynamic chamber

International audienceSince 1990, INERIS carried out research on the measurement of surface biogas flow, designing a dynamic flux chamber. Preliminary bench tests revealed the necessity of defining the corrective factors required to ascertain the actual flow rate from the measured value. Measurements performed on an actual MSW landfill confirmed the performance of the method defined in the laboratory, as well as the extremely high spatial heterogeneity of methane emission on this landfill

Road transportation of dangerous goods quantitative risk assessment and route comparison

International audienceTransportation of dangerous goods (TDG) by road creates risk for the people present on and along the routes (road users and surrounding population). To minimise them, is it better to have TDG going through a city or on the contrary by a longer detour through less populated areas? The choice is not always easy. It may become very difficult when the detour goes through tunnels. There, accidents may have developments and consequences very different from what might happen on an open air route. To make the right choice it becomes necessary to use a QRA (quantitative risk assessment) approach dealing with the accident scenarios likely to occur, their probability and possible consequences. It may be useful to identify the DG (dangerous goods) classes which contribute most to the risk and examine the interest of nonuniform strategies, i.e., different routing for certain DG

A comparison of methods for the measurement of methane emissions from municipal solid waste landfills for the purpose of evaluating their contribution to the greenhouse effect

International audienceThis study was funded and co-ordinated by the French Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maitrise de l'Energie (Ademe) in the framework of the French research programme on the evolution of the climate and the atmosphere, with the specific aim of estimating the contribution to the greenhouse effect due to methane emitted by municipal solid waste landfills

Ten golden rules for optimal antibiotic use in hospital settings: the WARNING call to action

Antibiotics are recognized widely for their benefits when used appropriately. However, they are often used inappropriately despite the importance of responsible use within good clinical practice. Effective antibiotic treatment is an essential component of universal healthcare, and it is a global responsibility to ensure appropriate use. Currently, pharmaceutical companies have little incentive to develop new antibiotics due to scientific, regulatory, and financial barriers, further emphasizing the importance of appropriate antibiotic use. To address this issue, the Global Alliance for Infections in Surgery established an international multidisciplinary task force of 295 experts from 115 countries with different backgrounds. The task force developed a position statement called WARNING (Worldwide Antimicrobial Resistance National/International Network Group) aimed at raising awareness of antimicrobial resistance and improving antibiotic prescribing practices worldwide. The statement outlined is 10 axioms, or “golden rules,” for the appropriate use of antibiotics that all healthcare workers should consistently adhere in clinical practice

Road transportation of dangerous goods quantitative risk assessment and route comparison

International audienceTransportation of Dangerous Goods (TDG) by road creates risk for the people present on and along the routes (road users and surrounding population). To minimise them is it better to have TDG going through a city or on the contrary by a longer detour through less populated areas ? The choice is not always easy. It may become very difficult when the detour goes through tunnels. There, accidents may have developments and consequences very different from what might happen on an open air route. To make the right choice it becomes necessary to use a QRA (Quantitative Risk Assessment) approach dealing with the accident Scenarios likely to occur, their probability and possible consequences. It may be useful to identify the DG (Dangerous Goods) classes which contribute most to the risk and examine the interest of non-uniform strategies i.e. different routing for certain DG

Risk assessment related tunnels

Following the fire which occurred in March 1999 in the Mont Blanc tunnel located between France and Italy, an Appraisal Committee has been committed to assess the safety of 40 existing French road tunnels, with a length exceeding 1 km. Later, a new regulatory document (circular) was issued (25/08/2000) about the safety of existing road tunnels. In this document, a new procedure is requested : a specific hazards study (SHS). A work is still under progress between different partners to define the methodology to be applied for these SHS. Every SHS will be submitted for acceptance to a National Evaluation Committee. New regulations are under preparation. Such SHS are prepared only after achievements of preliminary studies (traffic studies, rules of operations, specific study for the transportation of dangerous goods if any...) from which a reference state if defined. The different steps of this SHS are : risks identification, definition of scenarios (standardised and customized) from which it is possible to describe a sequence of events, possible consequences and the validity of the system management of the system especially in emergency situations. The conclusion of the study is the evaluation of the safety level with possible use of severity/occurrence matrix. Proposals are then to be made by the contractor and operator to improve the safety level on weak points. Among the difficult issues are : the need for preventive closure of a tunnel when a situation is incidental but without major consequences, the assessment of fire developments for different types of vehicles and the influence of the ventilation, the efficiency of fire fumes extraction, the definition and use of severity/occurrence matrix

A method of comparing risks due to transportation of dangerous goods on different routes

International audienc