************** README.TXT March 2014 ************** ABOUT THE DATA The Hazardous Materials Incident Report Database is maintained by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, under the Department of Transportation (phmsa.dot.gov/hazmat). The database contains the incident reports of unintentional releases of hazardous materials for all modes of transportation (air, highway, railway and water) between 1971 and 2014. The reports are collected by mail, through the web, or in XML by the Hazardous Material Information System. The table contains 205 fields detailing the date, time and severity of each incident, as well as information about the companies responsible for the material and its transport. The most recent incidents in the data are from 3/16/2014. In prior years, HMIS data was stored in eight separate tables. At some point the eight relational tables were combined into one table. For more information on older versions of the data, see the NICAR_Readme.txt in the 'Archive' folder. The Hazardous Materials Incident Reports were established in 1971 to fulfil the requirements of the Federal hazardous materials transportation law. Part 171 of Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, contains the incident reporting requirements for carriers of hazardous materials. An unintentional release of hazardous materials meeting the criteria set forth in Section 171.16, 49 CFR, must be reported. FILES INCLUDED: hazmat.csv: (Data): Incident reports from 1971 to March 16, 2014 from the Hazardous Materials Incident Safety database. hazmat_layout.txt (Record Layout): NICAR record layout -- Contains the name, header, type and description for each field name hazmat_layout.xls (Record Layout): NICAR record layout (spreadsheet) -- Contains the name, header, type and description for each field name In the docs folder: DataDictionary.pdf (HMIS Data Definitions and Codes): Record layout from PHMSA Form 5800.1 (Hazardous Materials Incident Report): Blank sample of the form that is filled out and submitted to DOT after a hazardous material incident DQA Report.pdf (Data Quality Assessment): This 2009 DOT report outlines some of the shortcomings of the data collection and analysis systems related to pipeline and hazardous materials safety. reporting_guide.pdf (Reporting Instructions): Manual to guide incident reporters through the process of filling out a Hazardous Material Incident Report (form 5800.1). Gives an overview of incidents that require a report and those that do not. serious_incident_new_def.pdf: Definition for incidents categorized as "serious" in the field 'HMIS_Serious_Inc_Ind' UnitsOfMeasure.pdf: Lookup for the units of measure codes in the 'Unit_of_measure' and '_UOM' fields. NOTES Each "incident" has a unique identifier in the 'Rpt_num' field, however an incident can have more than one record. There are individual records for different chemicals that are released, and in the case of trains there can be an individual record for each train car. This means that the values in 'Rpt_num' ARE NOT UNIQUE. If you are counting incidents, you must use a 'distinct' function in SQL. In some of the date fields, it looks like 01/01/1901 is used as a default. POTENTIAL PITFALLS In 2009, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration released a report on the quality of their data programs and found that they were missing data from about 60-70 percent of hazmat incidents that had occurred. The report also noted that incident reports often failed to capture enough information about the conditions leading up to hazmat incidents, making it difficult to understand their root causes. Link to data quality report (2009): http://phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/PHMSA/DownloadableFiles/Files/DQA%20Report.pdf The report also notes that PHMSA relies heavily on information from the industry it regulates to compile data when something goes wrong, which creates what the report's authors call "a natural, inherent bias in the data we collect." Note that many fields (such as 'Inc_city' and 'Inc_Cnty') are not clean or standardized. More information is available on the DOT Web site, http://phmsa.dot.gov/hazmat, including DOT reports on Hazardous materials and shipments. If you have any questions regarding the processing of this database that are not answered in the documentation, please call NICAR at 573-884-7711. For specific questions regarding information in the data, contact: Office of Hazardous Materials Safety U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration East Building, 2nd Floor Mail Stop: E21-317 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE Washington, DC 20590 phmsa.hmhazmatsafety@dot.gov 202-366-0656 202-366-5713 (Fax) ****STORIES FROM THE IRE RESOURCE CENTER**** Investigative News Network (INN) series: Jan. 13, 2014- MinnPost used the data in the Hazmat table to create a visualization that shows the number of incidents, when they occured, what kind of materials were involved, which companies were responsible, and which incidents were the most expensive. Jan. 20, 2014: Iowa Watch used information from the Hazmat table in a story about the dangers of railroad cars that carry flammable liquids, and the fact PHMSA has not mandated regulations that would make cars safer. Feb. 18, 2014: Public Source, a non-profit news organization in Pennsylvania, analyzed data in the Hazmat table to investigate incidents in the state like the January 2014 derailment of a train carrying crude oil on a bridge over the Schuylkill River. Story number 19612. A train derailment and fatal chemical spill on Jan. 18, 2002, in Minot, N.D., exposed the vulnerability of our nation's transportation of common but hazardous agricultural chemical. The story depict the disaster -- known as the largest spill of anhydrous ammonia, a farm fertilizer -- in the world but also investigates its causes. The main findings are that pre-1989 railroad tanker cars are susceptible to puncturing in accidents in cold weather; tracks often contain a number of defects; and rescue workers and hospitals are ill-prepared for disasters. story number 15476. This data can also be used to examine transporting hazardous materials in the airline industry. The report number column has unique case numbers, making it possible to join different databases for more in-depth investigations. Elizabeth Marchak used this data and combined it with problems in the airline industry. The story is titled, "Safety on Hold: The Hidden Dangers in Airline Cargo." story number 8795. The Los Angeles Times conducted a database study of 68,000 hazardous materials incidents from around the United States, and found the number of incidents has risen 37 percent from 1982 to 1991. Injuries to people as a result of truck spills rose 374 percent and almost all of the deaths -106 out of 108 - involved tanker trucks. Gasoline, ammonia and sulfuric acid are the most dangerous liquids transported. The story gives an account of a railway accident that dumped weed killer into the Sacramento River, killing virtually every organism along the river for miles. tipsheet 1290 Dawn Fallik lists Web sites for researching transportation including crash and accident data, trucking, hazardous materials, airlines, railroads, school bus safety and FAA.