Assessment of risk factors and effects in hydrogen logistics incidents from a network modeling perspective

Abstract The use of hydrogen as an environmentally friendly fuel for the future is attracting more attention among the scientific community. However, hydrogen has its drawbacks such as its fast burning speed. This suggest that studies should be conducted in order to assess and minimize the associated risks. Hence, this study aims to analyze the risk factors that lead to hydrogen logistics incidents by capturing the complexity of interdependencies in a network modeling approach. In this study, facts and figures from incident cases were acquired, and the assessment was enhanced by considering incident chains and the interdependencies among factors and effects. Then, network analysis was used to identify significant factors and significant effects in the occurrence of hydrogen logistics incidents. The results reveal that each factor plays its own role in the occurrence of an effect. The occurrence of a hydrogen logistics incident cannot be truly reduced by only considering the factors, it must consider both the factors and the effects. Tackling the occurrence of a significant factor and effect is effective for controlling and reducing the occurrence of hydrogen logistics incidents. By modeling and analyzing the interdependencies, this study contributes in revealing the topological structures and characteristics of each factor and effect in the occurrence of hydrogen logistics incidents, and the network diagrams with probabilistic estimations are useful for enhancing safety in hydrogen logistics as well as developing associated precautions.