Abstract
ABSTRACT
Hazardous materials are generated in large quantities in many industrial sites all over the United States. Large quantities of these materials are transported by road, railway, water, air and pipelines. A large number of accidents involving shipment of hazardous substances have been reported, a very high percentage of these leading to spillage of chemicals. In case of such accidents, the first responders are local fire fighters and the police department. The Office of Technology Assessment reports that these people are inadequately trained to handle such accidents involving hazardous materials. In the event of a spill, a large number of factors need to be considered before an appropriate action can be taken. An expert (or knowledge based) system is a program that incorporates the knowledge of, and simulates the decision making progresses of human experts to achieve a high level performance for a particular task. This paper describes an expert system, EMERG, to determine whether a location in the vicinity of a spill is safe, to recommend choice of an appropriate respirator, and to supply other properties of interest of the spilled material. Such programs can supplement and aid the decision making of experts present at the scene of the spill.
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