Methodological framework for developing decision support systems (DSS) forhazardous materials emergency response operations

The production, storage, and transportation of hazardous materials are proc esses of vital economic importance for any advanced and technologically com plex society. Although the production and distribution of hazardous materia ls is associated with economic development, there is a significant potentia l danger to the natural and social environment in the event of their accide ntal release, a fact that prompts for the development and implementation of methods and techniques that aim to improve hazardous materials risk manage ment decisions. The objective of this paper is to present a unified framewo rk for developing a Decision Support System (DSS) for supporting a vital fu nction of risk management, namely the management of emergency response oper ations. The proposed framework recognizes the peculiarities of the hazardou s materials decision-making environment which is characterized by: (i) mult iple stakeholders, i.e., persons and organizations involved in and affected by hazardous materials risk management decisions; (ii) lack of a formal ma nagement structure for monitoring and controlling in a unified manner all E mergency Response Resources; (iii) lack of clear distinction and fragmentat ion of responsibilities of the actors involved in risk management operation s; and (iv) dynamic/real-time decisions, i.e., risk determinants change ove r time. The proposed framework was used in order to develop a DSS for manag ing emergency response operations for large scale industrial accidents in W estern Attica, Greece. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.