Possible Areas of Application of Drones in Waste Management during Rail Accidents and Disasters

Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems 16(3-A), 360-368, 2018 POSSIBLE AREAS OF APPLICATION OF DRONES IN WASTE MANAGEMENT DURING RAIL ACCIDENTS AND DISASTERS Géza Károly Kiss Leizer* Óbuda University, Doctoral School on Safety and Security Sciences Budapest, Hungary DOI: 10.7906/indecs.16.3.8 Regular article th Received: 18 March 2018. st Accepted: 31 August 2018. ABSTRACT In this article the most modern versions of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) will be presented from the aspect of safer identification of dangerous effluent materials during rail accidents and catastrophes. These technologies are crucial to minimize the pollution of dangerous waste generated during accidents or catastrophes. Doing this, exploration of further opportunities of waste management – satisfying the conditions of the highest level of environmental safety – is necessary, as well as to find new methods to handle waste in time securely and professionally. Exploration of unprecedented solutions during rail- and road accidents or catastrophes is also reasonable. Relevancy of application of drones is particular as long as the approachability of the affected area is difficult or impossible. During the neutralization of explosive, hazardous or toxic materials the risk of life could be eliminated using drones equipped with the most modern technologies. KEYWORDS drones, environmental safety, dangerous wastes, minimizing damages, rail accidents CLASSIFICATION ACM: 10010485, 10010606 APA: 4070, 4090 JEL: H12, Q53 *Corresponding author, : ; +36 30 222 8062; *Budapest, Széchenyi I. u. 9., H – 1184, Hungary Possible areas of application of drones in waste management during rail accidents… INTRODUCTION In order to permanently reduct wastes into the economical and social turnovers, it is necessary to reveal factors affecting engineering safety, to determine the elements of engineering safety in waste management, furthermore, the employability of these solutions. Engineering safety is a totality of technical and technological methods and procedures, which aims to secure the existence or the functioning of somebody or something [1]. During waste management this goal could be achieved by the appliance and utilization of engineering sciences. Doing this, every single element could be an influential factor, which holds the shaping, installation, maintenance or the creation of conditions of the engineering safety. From all of these, the most important element is the human factor. This could be manifested during vehicular catastrophes and accidents coming from malpractice or negligence, causing serious damages. It is very important to highlight and emphasize the role of hydrocarbons polluting the soil and aquatic life. These materials are mostly emerging in the wake of disasters and they often not burn out. We also have to mention other types of special industrial or delivered liquids. By this time, polluted area must be cleaned from these liquids and materials, which have been transformed into dangerous waste [2]. SECURITY OF RAIL TRANSPORTS Transportation is probably as old as humanity, but the level and importance of this activity has never been so determinate as today. The most decisive way of forwarding is the rail transport. Air conveyance is fast but expensive. Waterage and railway transport is too bound, depending on the riverbed several factors or the quality of the railroad. Rail transport is the most secure solution, because the track of the cargo could be supervised or optimized rapidly [3]. The cargo must be secured, because the cargo itself could be endangered, or it may pose a threat to the environment. In light of this, protection and defense is the key to keep the cargo safe. Guarding is a permanent counteraction responding to a presumed threat on the cargo. The guard so an insurance one attaching to a hypothetical, supposed activity, the protection it began though, a related averting task ensued with an event concerned. It can be expected that large amount of waste is generated during rail disasters. Decontamination and disposal of such waste – polluting soil or water – is an urgent objective, as well as the elimination of the pollution and the rehabilitation of the affected area. RFID IDENTIFICATION OF WASTES COMING FROM ACCIDENTS AND DISASTERS In case of waste management, our personal behavior and the rules of traffic must be extended in order to manage an accident or a catastrophe, to reduce the effects of hazardous materials and to hold polluting effects. These steps and know-how would be similar to the well known first aid exam, obligatory for all drivers. One of the possible solution to treat a damaged tanker is the appliance of the Vetter-pillows. These pillows are easy to deploy even by laymen [4]. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) provides reading of the information carrier chip of the vehicle from safe distance by radio waves during disasters and accidents. This method also works at great speed of the vehicle. 361 G.K. Kiss Leizer During catastrophes and accidents the vehicle often suffers so severe damage that UN numbers and other information of the cargo become unreadable. The information carrier unit is also vulnerable; in this case, reading is also impossible. A rapidly employed drone would be capable to read a properly installed chip, in order to rapidly identify dangerous goods. Following this, obtained information must be transmitted to the units participating in recovery actions. Possessing the necessary information, these units could prepare the appropriate tools of decontamination, protective clothing, etc. Shaping of the strategy of neutralization is also possible before taking actions at the location of the disaster. Significance of this combined method is extraordinary, if the location of the disaster or accident is out of the way or impossible to approach. In case of poisoning, contamination or explosion the RFID system could help to save those who involved in the rescue process. The recommended procedure may significantly decreases pollution of hazardous wastes, because effluent, non-burning hazardous materials become hazardous waste by touching the ground. The affected area of the rail and the environment also become contaminated, because of time factor and the fast spreading of the pollution. We would like to highlight that groundwater could be also polluted when hydrocarbons diffuse into the soil [5]. WITH DRONES AGAINST WASTE The drone is a small, propeller driven unmanned aerial vehicle, available for multiple useful tasks. Drones’ applicability could be demonstrated by their employment in American metropolises, where illegal waste dumping world was reduced, following the appearance of these aerial vehicles. This problem is also cardinal, where illegal waste dumping is a common phenomenon along the railways, inhabited regions, parking places and green areas. Over the recent years, many research groups are working in order to exploit t (...truncated)