A Safety Assessment Model for Handling Dangerous Goods in Port Operations: The Key Role of Detection Capability

Abstract

Recently, resilience studies have been emphasized in the port field, recognizing that many high-risk and unsafe factors in ports might bring serious disasters and economic losses. One major cause of significant losses is accidents from fires, explosions, and the resultant adverse impacts from dangerous goods. Whilst the occurrence of major events related to dangerous goods is relatively low in occurrence, their impact on the environment and economic and social loss, and on human casualties, can be extremely high when they do occur. In order to prevent potential risks and reduce losses, based on a literature review, a safety assessment model was developed with four criteria and 15 sub-criteria of dangerous goods in ports using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) approach. This model formed the basis for a subsequent stage involving questionnaires with 25 experts. The results of these questionnaires found that the key criteria are detection capability, followed by recovery capability, rescue capability, and resistance capability. Sensitivity analysis is used to identify the criteria’s weight value changes under various scenarios. These findings concern dangerous goods operations management in ports. Critically, these findings emphasize the key role played in the initial stages of determining precisely and exactly what specific goods are in fact dangerous goods, thereby avoiding a domino effect of adverse consequences later. Suggestions are made for policymakers regarding funding and supporting processes for handling dangerous goods, as well as for future research.