HAZMAT Transportation and Security: Survey and Directions for Future Research

Safety estimates that an average of over 800,000 shipments of hazardous materials (HAZMAT) are made each day in the United States [27]. The DOT also reports that approximately 1.5 billion tons of hazardous materials are shipped each year [26]. The majority of the hazardous material shipped is classified as flammable liquid (e.g. petroleum). Other types of hazardous material include (in decreasing order of annual amount shipped) corrosive materials, gases, flammable solids, toxics and radioactive materials. The DOT also reports statistics on incidents involving hazardous materials shipping and their consequences. For 1999, the DOT reported five fatalities, 217 injured persons, and $23 million in property damage associated with hazardous materials transportation on highways [28]. The above statistics (fortunately) do not include any cases where HAZMAT trucks were intentionally used to attack a vulnerable site. Unfortunately, it is a reality that there is now a risk of such an event occurring and the consequences could be enormous. Whereas HAZMAT incidents occurring as a resul