As DCHAS-L readers know, I have been tracking headlines related to hazmat events as reported by Google over the last year. I've had the chance to organize the raw data into summary information below. The purpose of this is to put into perspective trends in hazmat events, so that policy and planning can be informed by more complete data than the latest headline event. I don't consider this a particularly objective set of data, as the filters imposed by my available time, language (I only review headlines in English), and my interpretation of the information offered by the media outlet (which sometimes is clearly unreliable) are significant, but I do believe that this gives a sense of patterns associated with the public hazmat responses which make it to the press. Since I'll be making a presentation based on this work at the ACS meeting in Denver this fall (there's still time for abstracts to be submitted - contact me for details), I'd be interested in people's questions and comments about the information below. - Ralph Date: =46rom February 1, 2010 to April 11, 2011: Average 4.5 hazmat responses/day reported by Google Ranges from 6.3/day in October 2010 or 2.3/day April 2010 No pattern evident over the course of the year Country: 76% of the reports from the US 6% from UK 4% from India 4% from Canada 3% from Australia Within the US, 9% from California 7% from Texas 5% from Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio 5% from New York, Massachusetts rest scatted among all other states The sectors represented were: industrial 726 events 38% transportation 362 events 19% home 240 events 12% other (public settings, primarily) 210 events 11% laboratory (all types) 166 events 9% illegal 143 events 7% education (non-lab) 82 events 4% The type of event: release 55% fire 23% explosion 15% discovery of a chemical in unexpected place 7% Extent of the event: response 73% injury 21% death 6% Chemical Involved some indication of identity, but not listed below 767 40% chemical reported as unknown 255 13% petroleum 134 7% meth_lab 118 6% acid 115 6% ammonia 73 4% solvent 61 3% ag_chemicals 57 3% wastes 55 3% chlorine 53 3% explosives 50 3% pool_chemicals 38 2% mercury 36 2% cleaning_chemicals 34 2% Ralph Stuart secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org Secretary Division of Chemical Health and Safety American Chemical Society
Previous post | Top of Page | Next post