Environmental risk assessment in land transport of chemicals of risk classes 3 and 9, Ecuador

Abstract

Transport is an essential activity for the social and economic development of a country. In Ecuador, fuel transport is distributed nationally, which not only brings benefits but also negative consequences if one considers the possible accidents that may occur. Therefore, the objective of this research was to evaluate the environmental risk of land transport of class 3 and 9 chemicals from 14 routes at the national level in order to develop prevention, mitigation and prompt response actions to an event. In effect, the evaluation was divided into several stages. First, the study sections were defined, historical accident data was obtained for the period 2014 to 2019, the state of the roads was obtained through the use of ArcGIS, and finally the risks were evaluated with the Chemical Process Quantitative Risk Analysis method, which considers the road, environmental, human and vehicle factors. Finally, the evaluation identified that they present high risks due to the pathways factors 67%, human 69% and environmental 90%, it can be said that additional individual and social risk assessment studies are needed to allow efficient risk management in heavy land transport.