The study of accidents with dangerous products is one of the areas of environmental health surveillance. The risks involved in the road transport of dangerous products are large and they depend on the properties of the involved substances, of the quality of the road network, of the presence of areas densely populated, of passengers in the road, among others, and their consequences can be very severe. One of the basic requirements for the surveillance in environmental health is the existence of appropriate systems of information. This article has as objective to analyze the data of accidents with transport of dangerous products in the State of São Paulo, registered by Cetesb, by the Traffic Police and by the Fire Brigade of the State of São Paulo. The contents of the respective reports of registrations of the occurrences: RAA, RATPP AND RACB were also analyzed and compared. The number of accidents, number of deaths and of persons wounded and the relation death / accident were verified for the period 1996 2003. The results indicated a significant difference, not just in quantitative terms as of representativeness and access easiness. It was also verified that the concepts of type of accident, causes and consequences used by the institutions are quite different. For these reasons, the accomplishment of empiric studies, starting from historical data of accidents is unfeasible. The structuring of databases of registrations of accidents with dangerous products should be initiated by the discussion and the uniformization of their fundamental concepts.
Accidents with Dangerous Products; Road Transport; Environmental Health; Empiric Studies of Accidents; Environmental Surveillance
