Fire risk in mass transportation

Abstract

For many, the concept of fire risk elicits thoughts of the built environment. Yet occupants in the built environment are also passengers on airplanes, in trains, and on ships. The number of passengers boarding scheduled commercial airlines is expected to exceed 985 million by the year 2009. Rail rapid transit systems throughout the United States (U.S.) carry almost two billion passengers annually. Ferryboats account for more than 270 million passenger miles per year [1]. In 2010, motor coaches (or buses) topped 76.1 billion passenger miles in the U.S. and Canada [2]. Every mode of transportation carries with it unique risks; the risks are dependent on a myriad of factors, including design, construction, maintenance, and operation. Understanding or comparing the risks associated with and between the various methods of transport is not always direct. It is complicated by various metrics that can be used for example, risk per distance, risk per trip, risk per passenger exposure hour. For example per mile traveled, the fatality risk in air transport is less than that for bus transport, however, per trip, the risk in air transport is on the order of 100 times greater than that of bus transport [3].