I've put together a statistical overview of the hazmat events that I've sent to the list over the year (1869 items). The percentages generated for location, economic sector, type of event, extent of event and chemical identity are similar to those previous summaries I've sent to the list.

The biggest difference is that I've agglomerated a variety of smaller sectors into "public", including home events, hospital responses, retail settings, illegal activities, etc, because these events were the most ambiguous to determine and their numbers are small enough that maintaining those distinctions didn't add much value to the breakdowns. What they have in common is that they are non-transportation settings where the general public is likely to be present.

In addition to the general overview, I've done a similar breakdown for lab events (148 items); the general percentages in the lab events are remarkably similar to the larger hazmat response universe.

If anyone would like Excel spreadsheets with a list of the individual headlines, let me know. You can still review the information available about the events at
http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

Let me know if you have any questions about this.

- Ralph

Ralph Stuart
secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Secretary
Division of Chemical Health and Safety
American Chemical Society

Breakdown of 2011 HAZMAT events collected by Google:

Country 	Count	
us	1406	75%
india	79	4%
canada	69	4%
australia	68	4%
uk	64	3%
united_kingdom	41	2%
nz	29	2%
china	26	1%
ireland	17	1%
south_africa	5	0%
Other	65	3%
Total	1869	100%

Sector	Count	
industrial	636	34%
public	634	34%
transportation	353	19%
laboratory	151	8%
education	95	5%
Total	1869	100%
		
Type	Count	
release	994	53%
explosion	349	19%
fire	342	18%
discovery	178	10%
followup	6	0%
Total	1869	100%
		
Extent	Count	
response	1143	61%
injury	516	28%
death	121	6%
environmental	89	5%
Total	1869	100%
	
Chemicals	Count	
unknown_chemical	460	25%
meth_lab	125	7%
ammonia	81	4%
petroleum	72	4%
chlorine	59	3%
hydrochloric_acid	46	2%
solvent	40	2%
waste	39	2%
ag_chems	37	2%
pool_chemicals	33	2%
acids	33	2%
bomb	31	2%
flammables	28	1%
diesel	27	1%
gasoline	26	1%
nitric_acid	24	1%
pesticides	22	1%
cleaners	22	1%
mercury	21	1%
propane	19	1%
carbon_monoxide	19	1%
corrosives	18	1%
batteries	18	1%
metals	17	1%
sulfuric_acid	16	1%
dust	16	1%
picric_acid	15	1%
Other	505	27%
Total	1869	100%

Breakdown of 2011 Laboratory Hazmat Event Headlines

Country 	Count	Percent
us	108	73%
india	9	6%
united_kingdom	7	5%
ireland	7	5%
canada	6	4%
uk	2	1%
nz	2	1%
new_zealand	2	1%
australia	2	1%
oman	1	1%
denmark	1	1%
austria	1	1%
Total	148	100%
	
Lab sector	Count	
Research (higher ed) 	66	45%
Secondary school	35	24%
Industry	30	20%
Teaching (higher ed)	17	11%
Total	148	100%
		
Type	Count	
release	67	45%
explosion	34	23%
fire	30	20%
discovery	17	11%
Total	148	100%
		
Extent	Count	
response	90	61%
injury	53	36%
death	4	3%
environmental	1	1%
Total	148	100%
	
Chemicals	Count	
unknown_chemical	63	43%
acids	15	10%
solvent	8	5%
flammables	5	3%
picric_acid	5	3%
Other	52	35%
Total	148	100%

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