Methods and systems for identifying safe havens for hazardous transports

• US 8,190,466 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2006
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: HNTB Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: HNTB Holdings Limited
• Inventors: Quandel, Charles H., Morrison, Douglas Wayne, Siegel, Jeffrey L., Moore, W. Robert, Herman, Glen Arthur, Marros, Robert J., Kavanagh, Alex
• Primary Examiner(s): KARDOS, NEIL R
• Application Number:
  US11/530,894
• Publication Number:
  US 20070024468A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,087 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7, 705/10, 705/7.28
• US Class Current: 705/7.28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

The identification of safe havens for hazardous material transports is provided. Safe havens include locations at which a hazardous material transport is less susceptible to an event that may result in a hazardous material release and/or a location at which the impact of a hazardous material release is reduced. When an event occurs indicating that hazardous material transports should be moved to safe havens, the locations of hazardous material transports are determined. Safe havens may then be determined for each hazardous material transport. In some cases, safe havens may be selected from a group of predetermined locations designated as safe havens. In some cases, locations may be dynamically designated as safe havens for hazardous material transports after the occurrence of an event. The hazardous material transports are then moved to the selected safe havens, thereby reducing their susceptibility to events and/or minimizing the impact of an event that involves a hazardous material transport.

Claims

1. A method for providing a safe haven for hazardous material transports in response to an event, the method comprising:

providing a data store that includes data representative of at least two safe havens with a reduced risk for release of stored hazardous materials, wherein the data includes characteristics of each safe haven, and wherein the characteristics of each safe haven include,

(A) a location of the safe haven,

(B) a suitability of the safe haven to receive one or more types of hazardous materials,

(C) a capacity of the safe haven to store a certain volume of one or more hazardous materials,

(D) a capacity of the safe haven to receive a certain size of one or more hazardous material transports,

(E) a susceptibility of the safe haven to an event that would result in release of a hazardous material from the safe haven, and

(F) an impact of a release of a hazardous material from the safe haven;

determining characteristics of at least two hazardous material transports, wherein the characteristics of each hazardous material transport include,

(G) a location of the hazardous material transport,

(H) a type of hazardous material carried by the hazardous material transport,

(I) a volume of hazardous material carried by the hazardous material transport, and

(J) a size of the hazardous material transport; and

in response to an event, for each hazardous material transport associated with the event,

determining a route risk value for each safe haven, wherein said route risk value is based in part on population density and is the lowest risk value among all possible routes from the hazardous material transport to the safe haven; and

determining an optimal safe haven among the at least two safe havens based on the determined route risk values, a comparison between characteristics (A) and (G), a comparison between characteristics (B) and (H), a comparison between characteristics (C) and (I), a comparison between characteristics (D) and (J), said susceptibility of the safe haven to an event that would result in release of a hazardous material from the safe haven, said impact of a release of a hazardous material from the safe haven, and a capability of each safe haven to accommodate multiple hazardous material transports.

2. One or more nontransitory computer-readable media having embodied thereon computer-useable instructions that, when executed, perform a method for providing a safe haven for hazardous material transports in response to an event, the method comprising:

providing a data store that includes data representative of at least two safe havens with a reduced risk for release of stored hazardous materials, wherein the data includes characteristics of each safe haven, and wherein the characteristics of each safe haven include,

(A) a location of the safe haven,

(B) a suitability of the safe haven to receive one or more types of hazardous materials,

(C) a capacity of the safe haven to store a certain volume of one or more hazardous materials,

(D) a capacity of the safe haven to receive a certain size of one or more hazardous material transports,

(E) a susceptibility of the safe haven to an event that would result in release of a hazardous material from the safe haven, and

(F) an impact of a release of a hazardous material from the safe haven;

determining characteristics of at least two hazardous material transports, wherein the characteristics of each hazardous material transport include,

(G) a location of the hazardous material transport,

(H) a type of hazardous material carried by the hazardous material transport,

(I) a volume of hazardous material carried by the hazardous material transport, and

(J) a size of the hazardous material transport; and

in response to an event, for each hazardous material transport associated with the event,

determining a route risk value for each safe haven, wherein said route risk value is based in part on population density and is the lowest risk value among all possible routes from the hazardous material transport to the safe haven; and

determining an optimal safe haven among the at least two safe havens based on the determined route risk values, a comparison between characteristics (A) and (G), a comparison between characteristics (B) and (H), a comparison between characteristics (C) and (I), a comparison between characteristics (D) and (J), said susceptibility of the safe haven to an event that would result in release of a hazardous material from the safe haven, said impact of a release of a hazardous material from the safe haven, and a capability of each safe haven to accommodate multiple hazardous material transports.

3. A system for providing a safe haven for hazardous material transports in response to an event, the method comprising:

a data store, including one or more nontransitory computer-readable media, that stores data representative of at least two safe havens with a reduced risk for release of stored hazardous materials, wherein the data includes characteristics of each safe haven, and wherein the characteristics of each safe haven include,

(A) a location of the safe haven,

(B) a suitability of the safe haven to receive one or more types of hazardous materials,

(C) a capacity of the safe haven to store a certain volume of one or more hazardous materials,

(D) a capacity of the safe haven to receive a certain size of one or more hazardous material transports,

(E) a susceptibility of the safe haven to an event that would result in release of a hazardous material from the safe haven, and

(F) an impact of a release of a hazardous material from the safe haven;

a first processor-based component that determines characteristics of at least two hazardous material transports, wherein the characteristics of each hazardous material transport include,

(G) a location of the hazardous material transport,

(H) a type of hazardous material carried by the hazardous material transport,

(I) a volume of hazardous material carried by the hazardous material transport, and

(J) a size of the hazardous material transport; and

a second processor-based component that, in response to an event, for each hazardous material transport associated with the event,

determines a route risk value for each safe haven, wherein said route risk value is based in part on population density and is the lowest risk value among all possible routes from the hazardous material transport to the safe haven; and

a third processor-based component that determines an optimal safe haven among the at least two safe havens based on the determined route risk values, a comparison between characteristics (A) and (G), a comparison between characteristics (B) and (H), a comparison between characteristics (C) and (I), a comparison between characteristics (D) and (J), said susceptibility of the safe haven to an event that would result in release of a hazardous material from the safe haven, said impact of a release of a hazardous material from the safe haven, and a capability of each safe haven to accommodate multiple hazardous material transports.