Rating Countermeasures for Mitigation of Hazardous Materials Incidents

Kansas State University (KSU) conducted a comprehensive study of the development of a set of prioritized, extreme‐risk scenarios; the development of a set of feasible, practical, and implementable protective systems, and a report to summarize guidelines on the use of these protective systems to mitigate potential, extreme‐risk situations that could occur during the transport of hazardous materials (hazmat) on our highway system. The present paper covers the methodology used to apply the Delphi technique with a state's panel to complete the first two objectives; and, in addition, an initial evaluation of the effectiveness of these protective systems. The research study was limited to materials spilled within the highway system. It focused on potential risks that would result in severe, long‐term, permanent, irreparable, or catastrophic consequences, and existing technology and state‐of‐the‐art knowledge for development of protective systems to mitigate these consequences. The protective systems within the scope of this study were systems constructed or physically incorporated into the highway system or modifications thereto.