New data in IRE and NICAR's Hazardous Materials Incident Reporting System (HMIRS) database can help journalists investigate the impact of accidents in their region. The database includes incident reports about hazardous material releases for all types of transportation (air, highway, railway and water).
The main table, Hazmat, provides incident details including location, carrier, shipper and consigner's identity, origin, and destination. Data covers the period between 1970 and June 3, 2004.
The IRE Resource Center offers examples of hazardous material stories including one by the The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer that found the Federal Aviation Administration had failed to monitor hazardous materials transported on airplanes (Story No. 15476). For sample stories, visit the IRE Resource Center at www.ire.org/resourcecenter. For more information or to order the HMIRS database, contact IRE and NICAR at 573-884-7711.