Risk Management Report
Name: Zeyu Wei Uid:114998828
Topic: Release Risk and Optimization of Railroad Tank Car Safety Design
Authors: Mohd Rapik Saat and Christopher P.L. Barkan
Journal:Transportation Research Record 2014
1.What is the risk that is being mitigated? Describe the specific chain of events that would lead to undesirable consequences.
The release of hazardous materials caused by railroad accidents is the risk that is being mitigated.
If the tank car is damaged, the hazardous material will be released, which may cause vast economic losses of the company. Also, the released material may cause fire accident or generating poisonous gas which can damage the environment, properties or even threaten life safety of people.
2. How was the risk mitigated? Describe the features of the product or system that minimize its likelihood or reduce the consequences (or how the process mitigates these risks).
The releasing risk can be mitigated by increasing the tank car damage resistance.
There are two general types of tank-car damage, tank-caused damage and non-tank-caused damage. The tank-caused damage can be reduced by increasing the strength of the tank. The specific approaches to accomplish this are using head protection and applying a tank jacket. Also, using higher tensile strength steel or normalized steel can improve the tank material properties, which can also achieve the goal. On the other hand, the approaches to reducing non-tank-caused damage includes enclosing top fittings in a protective housing, adding protection for the bottom fittings or removing the bottom fitti...