Assessment of areas exposed to damage by dangerous goods transportation - Application of Analytic Hierarchy Process method for land covers weighing

The DESTINATION project, operating since 2010, proposed as its primary objective the implementation of a new information system called GIIS (Global Integrated Information System). The GIIS provides a platform for the sharing and analysis of data concerning dangerous goods transportation within the territories of the project: Canton Ticino, Piedmont Region, Lombardy Region, Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley and Autonomous Province of Bolzano Alto Adige. The GIIS is based on a risk analysis model related to the transport of dangerous goods, which is able to consider both human and environmental targets that are potentially exposed. The article describes the approach used to assess possible environmental targets in a consistent way with the goals of the project. By applying the AHP methodology, a weighting coefficient for non-human targets is defined, in order to homogenize the units of measurement of the potential damages of the exposed environmental targets, as well as to allow the algebraic sum of the risks.