Monitoring as component of safety of dangerous goods transportation—system concept

Abstract

Carriage of goods by road continues to remain at a high level. This phenomenon, apart from positive aspects for the economy, has also negative and costly consequences, especially in the transport of dangerous goods. These goods, due to their nature, pose a serious threat to the environment and human health. The rules of transport supervision of such goods regulated by relevant standard documents and guidelines approved in the European Union and in Poland. Despite the increased security measures, adverse events with negative social, environmental and financial consequences often occur. This situation requires action in order to minimise the risk of carriage and improve its safety. One of such actions is the introduction of load monitoring from the recipient to the sender. Vehicle tracking systems are available on the market that use satellite navigation systems. Their purpose is, among others, to determine vehicle location, fuel control or anti-theft protection. Unfortunately, they do not provide integrated monitoring which takes into account the multifaceted nature of the problem and, above all, the psychophysical assessment of the driver and its impact on minimising risk as well as minimising the effects of terrorist acts. The paper presents the concept of an integrated system that takes into account the current state of solutions in this area. The premise of the system development, its functioning, information flow between its participants and the role of the human factor in the system as well as the benefits of its implementation are discussed, the example being LNG transport. Furthermore, attention has also been drawn to the socio-economic implications of the functioning of the system as an essential element for increasing the level of safety in the carriage of particularly dangerous goods.