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Title: LPG land transportation and storage safety. Final report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5375266

This report contains an analytical examination of fatal accidents involving liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) releases during transportation and/or transportation related storage. Principal emphasis was on accidents during the nine-year period 1971 to 1979. Fatalities to members of the general public (i.e., those at the scene of the accident through coincidence or curiosity) were of special interest. Transportation accidents involving railroad tank cars, trucks, and pipelines were examined as were accidents at storage facilities, including loading and unloading at such facilities. The main sources of the necessary historical accident data were the accident reports submitted to the Department of Transportation by LPG carriers, National Transportation Safety Board accident reports, articles in the National Fire Protection Association journals, other literature, and personal interviews with firemen, company personnel, and others with knowledge of certain accidents. The data indicate that, on the average, releases of LPG during transportation and intermediate storage cause approximately six fatalities per year to members of the general public. The individual risk is about 1 death per 37,000,000 persons; about the same as the risk of a person on the ground being killed by an airplane crash, and much less than the risk of death by lightning, tornadoes, or dam failures.

Research Organization:
Applied Technology Corp., Norman, OK (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-78EV06020
OSTI ID:
5375266
Report Number(s):
DOE/EV/06020-T6; ON: DE82004420
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English