From Tanker Trucks to Trains. Safety in Oil Transportation

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Engineering - Safety Engineering, grade: A, language: English, abstract: The overall objective of this report was to identify an existing safety problem in the companys oil transportation operations and provide recommendations on the strategy the company could implement to plug the identified weakness. Effective, efficient, and safe transportation of oil is not only one of the most important aspects of the companys long-term growth prospects, but it is also one of the integral aspects of the development of the environment and, by extension, the economy and the society. Despite the companys awareness of the need for effective, efficient, and safe strategy for oil transportation, it is heavily reliant on a mode of oil transportation (tanker trucks) that it is anything, but safe, efficient, and effective. Based on these drawbacks, this report recommends that the company switch from tanker truck transportation to rail transport. In contrast to tanker truck transportation, transportation of oil through rail is effective, efficient, and safe. Studies indicate that rail transport is a safer mode of transport because trains transporting oil have a small risk of colliding with other trains when transporting oil to their intended destination. The reduced risk of collision means that their impact of trains on the environment from oil spillage is low. In addition to safety, rail transport is a more effective and efficient mode of transporting oil because of the absence of obstacles on the rail truck that might severely interrupt the transportation of oil. However, the oil corporation must proceed with caution during the switch because it will need $15 billion to make the move successful.