We have extensive experience working with multi-parameter risk models and developing approaches to integrate safety and security together to implement comprehensive risk assessments. We conduct research to help our government and industry clients solve difficult problems and set priorities for future activities.
- Rail Corridor Risk Management System
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- In response to the freight rail industry’s need for a tool to perform safety and security route risk analyses for security-sensitive chemicals, VRT and its partner ABS Consulting developed the RCRMS. The tool has grown to nationwide use to meet the federal regulatory requirements of HM-232E: Enhancing Rail Transportation Safety and Security for Hazardous Materials Shipments. VRT architected the freight rail industry's technical solution, including web and desktop applications, and completed data integration and enhancement, training, and outreach to the system users. RCRMS allows Rail Operators, as part of their route analysis (including assessment of route alternatives), to consider 27 required criteria, including network infrastructure characteristics, railroad operating characteristics, human factors, and environmental and terrorist-related parameters. The software provides a mechanism for the Rail Operators to maintain their route analyses and document their findings and results for FRA review. VRT also helps to facilitate a group of 30 railroad executives and employees to identify and address industry, system, and user issues. This effort is ongoing and the RCRMS has been adopted by the US DOT as a “key enabling technology for the industry in accomplishing the objectives of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008.”
- Railway Risk and Incident Management System
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- VRT provided software design, development, and consulting services for a Class 1 railroad to evaluate their corporate risk assessment and incident management practices for the shipment of hazardous materials. The project scope included the entire rail network and all fixed facilities. VRT software design incorporated screening-level risk assessment models for identifying high-risk locations as well as incident management tools that the railroad utilizes to improve emergency preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation. Multiple phases of this effort have been completed and refinements of the software model are ongoing with VRT continuing development and expansion of the system.
- Portfolio Reports
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- Corporate decision makers at global chemical and transportation corporations turn to VRT for comprehensive analyses and comparisons of hazardous materials movements (the corporate transportation portfolio) to understand total exposure and compare risks associated with mode, route, shipping, and packaging alternatives.
- Route Risk Analysis Studies
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- Risk management decision makers (e.g., chemical shippers, transporters, and insurance underwriters) rely on VRT for completion of route risk assessments and alternative route evaluation. VRT’s detailed, multi-modal route risk analyses can be custom-tailored to consider decision criteria such as travel time and distance; accident and conditional release probabilities; potential exposure to people, surface water, and natural hazards; and proximity to special areas of security or safety concern.
- Hazardous Materials Research
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- VRT’s extensive experience in hazmat research dates from 1988 and includes leadership of numerous projects involving incident/crash analysis, motor carrier security plans, safety and security-based routing guidance, security threat and consequence analysis, and regulatory evaluation support.
- HM-03: Assessing Emergency Response Needs and Capabilities for Hazardous Materials Releases
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- VRT is engaged on behalf of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies to show planning organizations how to develop an appropriate assessment of the nature and extent of the hazardous materials within their jurisdictions. The project also provides a vetted and tested approach for determining response capability and identifying gaps in coverage based on the inventory, as well as providing guidance to planning organizations on how best to allocate their limited resources to improve their overall level of hazardous materials emergency response to meet the needs of their communities.
- HM-10: Current Hazardous Materials Transportation Research and Future Needs
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- VRT was chosen by the Transportation Research Board to identify the relevant organizations (e.g., federal, state, industry, academic) conducting or sponsoring recent, current, or planned hazardous materials transportation research for all modes. The project will collect and categorize the research projects and assess the gaps and overlaps and propose a comprehensive list of research needs. In addition, VRT will prepare a framework with criteria and use it to develop a list of prioritized research projects for the next phase of the Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program (HMCRP).
- HM-11: Improving Local Community Recovery from Disastrous Hazardous Materials Transportation Incidents
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- In collaboration with ABS Consulting, VRT is providing hazardous materials subject matter expertise to develop a compendium of best practices that can be used by local communities to plan for recovery from disastrous hazardous materials transportation incidents. This includes both short- and long-term efforts to re-build and revitalize affected communities. The project focuses on the role of recovery planning in providing a near-seamless transition from emergency response activities to recovery operations to de-briefing lessons learned. Specific emphasis will be placed on restoration of interrupted utility services, reestablishment of transportation routes, the provision of food and shelter to displaced persons, environmental restoration, business continuity, and economic rebuilding.
- HM-12: Hazardous Materials Transportation Risk Assessment: State of the Practice
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- VRT is leading a project team to assess and document the current state of the practice in hazardous materials transportation risk assessment—in both the public and private sectors—and identifying areas where enhancements in the available data, tools, methodologies, and approaches would be beneficial.
- Critical Facility Response Support
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- A nuclear power operator engaged VRT to develop an analytical framework and methodology to assess sound pressure level coverage areas and population exposure affected by emergency alert sirens. VRT developed solutions to address how variations in topographical features, vegetation, and building density can have significant impacts upon the effectiveness of siren alerts. The analysis was a key element in the development of a siren implementation and positioning plan and lead to the successful approval by FEMA of the emergency siren alert plan for the nuclear power operator.
- Siren Route Alerting
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- Audible sirens are positioned around nuclear facilities to alert residents of radiological events. Employing comprehensive GIS analysis VRT determined areas that would be affected by the failure of pre-positioned sirens and developed optimal route paths for officers to conduct vehicle-based public announcement notification of an event within areas that had degraded or no siren coverage. VRT produced map packets that included instructions and turn-by-turn route directions for the mobile alerts teams.
- Emergency Exercise Drill Maps
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- VRT has 10 years of ongoing experience in providing custom GIS maps for use during emergency exercise drills for nuclear power operators. In recent work, VRT integrated MIDAS radiological plume model results to enhance the visualization of potentially impacted areas during the drills.
- Risk Mapping and Visualization of Marine Security Risk
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- VRT is developing risk mapping tools and support integration of United States Coast Guard’s (USCG) Maritime Security Risk Analysis Model (MSRAM) into the USCG Enterprise Geographic Information System (EGIS). Much of this work involves designing and developing add-ins for the USCG EGIS system, creating data export routines in the MSRAM application, developing geo-processing services on the existing USCG infrastructure, and designing and implementing robust search capabilities and a more sophisticated user interface for exploring query results. Individual targets and specific attack modes/scenarios are each visualized based on risk scores. Work also includes planning and design work needed to move MSRAM from a stand-alone desktop application into a web-based application embedded into the USCG enterprise environment.
- VRiskROUTE™
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- VRiskROUTE™ is a multi-modal hazardous materials decision support tool that enables users to assess route risk, benchmark their transportation risk portfolio, identify high-risk activities and movements, evaluate risk reduction strategies, and meet regulatory route analysis requirements. VRiskRoute is built on a customized geographic information system that provides powerful visualization capabilities, allowing users to easily compare alternatives, provide model inputs, and explore critical relationships between economic, safety, and security factors.
- State Hazmat Route Restriction Development
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- The California Highway Patrol retained VRT to assist with the designation of statewide transport routes for shipping poisonous-by-inhalation materials. VRT’s activities included program design, information dissemination to key stakeholders, technical review of CHP routing studies and policies, and development and application of risk assessment software. The program now covers routing of explosives and radioactive wastes, in addition to PIH materials. Integration of system capabilities to meet information needs at state emergency operation centers was also developed. VRT staff developed GIS routing and risk management methodologies to determine safe transport routes throughout the State with specific emphasis on tunnels. This approach was subsequently used statewide to evaluate each highway tunnel. VRT has proven, resident organizational knowledge of the process and challenges that states confront when attempting to develop routing restrictions. This key project experience enables VRT to design comprehensive systems to support regulatory requirements for route analysis.