PHMSA Hazardous Materials Incident Data



ANNUAL UPDATE HAZARDOUS MATERIAL/CLASS 1 TRANSPORTATION INCIDENT RATES1
2007-2011

 



Between 2010 and 2011 the number of hazardous materials incidents increased 2 percent, from 14,798 to 14,980.  The number of Class 1 incidents fell 2 percent from 40 to 39 for the year.  During the five-year period 2007-2011, the percentage of all incidents attributable to Class 1 material (204) was 0.25 percent.  Thirteen states and the District of Columbia reported no Class 1 incidents. 

For the 2007-2011 reporting period, there were 2,358 serious incidents2 attributable to hazardous materials, or which 10 (0.4%) involved Class 1 material.  During the same 5-year period, the number of serious hazardous materials incidents rose 1.0 percent and the number of serious Class 1 incidents fell 10 percent compared to the 2006-2010 reporting period.  During the 5-year period, 2007-2011, 41 states and the District of Columbia reported no serious Class 1 incidents. 

During the same five-year period, the number of Class 1 incidents resulting from accidents/derailment was 4.  The corresponding number of hazardous materials incidents attributable to accident/derailment was 620.    A full 74% of Class 1 incidents (151) involved undeclared packages, while the undeclared package rate for all hazmat runs at 8.2%.  No undeclared packages involved commercial explosives.  During this timeframe, no fatalities were attributed to Class 1 materials; 49 deaths have been attributed to other non-Class 1 hazardous material exposures.

During the five-year period 2007-2011, 31 percent (63) of Class 1 incidents occurred en route, followed by 30 percent (61) during unloading, 23 percent (47) during transportation-related storage, and 16 percent (33) during loading.  Correspondingly, 52 percent (41,626) of all hazardous materials incidents occurred during unloading, followed by 24 percent en route (19,475), and 19 percent during loading (15,439) and 5 percent (3,986) during temporary transportation-related storage.

During the five-year period 2007-2011, 51 percent (105) of all Class 1 incidents occurred in the highway mode, followed by 46 percent (93) in the air mode and 2 percent (4) in the water mode, and 1 percent (2) in the rail mode.  Correspondingly, 86 percent (69,606) of all hazardous materials incidents occurred in the highway mode, followed by 8.5 percent (6,875) by air, 4 percent (3,619) for rail, and 0.5 percent (426) by water.

 

1 Hazardous Materials Information System, DOT, data released May 2011. Each person in physical possession of a hazardous material are required to report incidents in which there has been an unintentional release of hazardous material from a package, an evacuation of the general public occurs lasting one or more hours, a major transportation artery or facility is closed for one hour or more, the operational flight pattern or routine of an aircraft is altered, or a situation exists of such nature that in the judgment of the person it should be reported.

2 DOT defines a "serious" incident as one where the release of a hazardous material results in one or more of the following:  death, major injury resulting in a hospitalization, an evacuation of 25 or more persons, closure of a major transportation artery, alteration of an aircraft flight plan or operation, failure of a Type B radioactive packaging, release of over 11.9 gallons or 88.2 pounds of a severe marine pollutant, or release of a bulk quantity (over 119 gallons or 882 pounds) or a hazardous material.