ABSTRACT
During the past decade, society has become increasingly concerned with the manufacture, storage, transportation, and disposal of hazardous materials. In the United States incidents involving unintentional releases of hazardous materials into the environment occur freguently. For instance a recent EPA study revealed that during the past five years of this decade approximately five accidents a day resulted in the release of toxic materials into the environment from small and large production facilities. Recently, Johnson and Zeigler (1986) have identified a crucial component in mitigating the potential impact of such accidents: anticipatory hazard management. Such management begins by anticipating an area’s exact hazard distribution (in terms of both diversification and total amount) and determining exactly what might be done to prevent a serious accident. Additionally, the authors propose a series of logical steps in the overall risk assessment process, including:
1 Identifying the hazards present in the community and defining the hazard zone associated with each substance.
