Using novel geographical information systems techniques to address regulatory challenges

Geographical information systems techniques and data are transforming the way geographically based information can be collated and analysed to provide evidence to inform regulatory activities. The Health and Safety Laboratory is at the forefront of these developments in the UK. This paper presents an overview of the fundamental geographical information systems concepts and methodologies that underpin the developments, and presents three case studies, drawing on applications for different regulators, to show how geographical information systems' applications and analyses developed by the Health and Safety Laboratory produce evidence that can be used to inform regulatory activities to meet a range of challenges. Fundamental to the Health and Safety Laboratory's approach to developing geographical information systems' applications and solutions is the identification of appropriate information, the linking and joining of disparate datasets, and the analysis and exploitation of the subsequent intelligence. The Health and Safety Laboratory has developed data-matching algorithms and methodologies to create a number of datasets and solutions to address a range of challenges, including the development of the National Population Database - a geographical information systems-based tool to estimate population density and distribution for a wide range of population types. The National Population Database includes residential, workplace, retail, leisure, tourism and transport population estimates, as well as populations that may be more susceptible to harm, such as those in schools, hospitals, care homes and nurseries. The National Population Database is available UK-wide and at a range of resolutions, including down to building level detail, and is used across government for a wide range of applications. Using the National Population Database, along with other in-house tools and techniques, the Health and Safety Laboratory provides support and solutions to an increasingly wide range of regulatory areas through the development of: demographic models and tools to inform the siting of new nuclear power stations on behalf of the Office of Nuclear Regulation tools to identify the types and numbers of people exposed to risks from major hazards sites to inform regulatory activity by the Health and Safety Executive on societal risk tools to aid the targeting of risk-based regulatory inspection to improve local authority regulation. Case studies of applications developed for these three areas are presented in this paper.