“A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR HAZARDOUS MATERIALS TRANSPORTATION AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE MANAGEMENT” Prof

The hazardous materials risk management process involves a set of crucial logistical decisions referring to the planning of the hazardous materials transportation and the organization of the emergency response operations. The objective of this paper is to present a Decision Support System for hazardous Materials Transportation Risk Management that covers integrated hazardous materials distribution and emergency response decisions. The inherent interrelationships between the emerging hazardous materials logistical problems imply the integration of routing and emergency response logistical decisions in order to improve the effectiveness of the hazardous materials emergency response process. The proposed system contributes substantially to this objective by providing the following capabilities: (i) provision of alternative efficient hazardous materials distribution routes in terms of minimum cost and risk, (ii) identification of the emergency response units locations that minimise the incident response time and secure a predefined service level for hazardous materials incidents, (iii) routing of the emergency response units, and (iv) identification of optimum evacuation plans i.e. optimum evacuation paths and traffic assignment given the evacuation area. The focus of this paper is on the exposition of the proposed Decision Support System components and capabilities while special emphasis is placed on the contribution of this system to the hazardous materials risk management process. The proposed system has been implemented, used and evaluated for the hazardous materials management within the area of Thriasion Pedion of Attica, Greece. Zografos K. and K. Androutsopoulos 3