MHIDAS - 208

 

SUBJECT COVERAGE

 Chemical Hazards, Accidents, Health & Safety, Spillage, Incidents, Transportation.

DATABASE DESCRIPTION

The Major Hazard Incidents Data Service (MHIDAS) database holds details of over seven thousand incidents which have occurred during the transport, processing or storage of hazardous materials which resulted in or it is considered had the potential to cause off-site impact. This definition includes incidents which incurred casualties, required evacuation of either on-site or off-site personnel or caused damage to property or the natural environment, together with incidents which could, but for mitigating circumstances, have led to the above occurring. Some particular types of incidents, such as those involving radioactive materials for example, are specifically excluded from the database.

Incidents are not generally entered onto the database until a year after they have occurred so that as much information as possible can be collected for each incident from a number of different types of journals.

DATABASE PRODUCERS
AEA Technology
Thomson House
Risley, Warrington
Cheshire WA3 6AT
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1925 232000
Fax: +44 (0)1925 254570
Email: MHIDAS@aeat.co.uk		 Health and Safety Executive
Information Centre
Broad Lane
Sheffield S3 7HQ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1142 -892000
Fax: +44 (0) 1142-892333

SOURCES

All the information on the MHIDAS database is taken from public domain information sources and the database aims to collect information on incidents that have occurred world-wide. However, the majority of the seven thousand incidents currently on the database occurred either in the UK or USA, which reflects the greater availability of published incident information from these countries.

AVAILABILITY ON GEM

Time span:

1964 to present

Database size:

Approximately 11,217 references

Database update:

Approximately 150-200 references quarterly

The MHIDAS database is available on the GEM Web site www.einsgem.org through the gateway to CINECA.

ACCESSING THE DATABASE

To access MHIDAS with a Begin command in Command Search you can use the database number or database name, ie:
B 208
B MHIDAS

OUTPUT FORMATS

You may totally or partially display references using the following formats:

Format

Abbr.

Display

Scan

S

Place of Incident and Type of Incident

Browse

B

Indexing Terms (Controlled Terms), Date of Incident, Place of Incident, Country of Incident, Type of Incident, Cause etc.

Browse plus abstract

BA

Indexing Terms (Controlled Terms), Date of Incident, Place of Incident, Country of Incident, Type of Incident, Cause etc. plus Abstract

Reference

R

Date of Incident, Place of Incident, Country of Incident, Type of Incident, Cause, Material Name, Material Code, Hazard, Origin etc.

All

A

Complete reference

Notes:
(1) The format MUST always be abbreviated, eg to display references 3-5 in scan format for set 4 type:
T 4/S/3-5
(2) Not all fields shown in the All format can be searched and expanded, some fields can only be displayed.

FURTHER INFORMATION ON MHIDAS

More detailed information on searching MHIDAS, including a sample reference, access codes and limit options can be found on the MHIDAS Infosheet. If you subscribe to GEM Documentation this is available free of charge. If you do not subscribe to GEM Documentation this is available at a cost, for which we will invoice you. For details of the costs please see your National Centre’s Price List.

See the MHIDAS Infosheet for detailed information.

NB: You will be charged for this if you do not subscribe to GEM Documentation.

GENERAL INFORMATION

For information on basic search commands, eg Expand, Select, Limit, Zoom, refer to your GEM Quick Reference Guide.

The SDI Alert service is available. Results are sent to an email address.

HELP

The following documents are available from the database producer:

MHIDAS list of field names and search codes

A description of the contents of the different fields available in MHIDAS with a definition of each codified information.

MHIDAS alphabetic index of chemical codes

A list of Material Codes with the corresponding Material Names

For more detailed help refer to your National Centre.

Last update: April 2002