Haven Accident

This accident occurred on April 11,1991 when an oil tanker named Haven suffered an explosion while anchored in Genoa Roads, Italy. The vessel was loaded with 144,000 tons of Iranian heavy crude oil, and the explosion was caused by an electrical spark during tank cleaning [3,7,8]. The tanker broke into three sections and six crew members got killed. 

As per Reference 6, approximately half of the crude oil onboard was burnt during the explosion and fire. Fmthermore, roughly 10,000 tons of oil was spilled prior to the sinking of the main section of the tanker. 

Additional information on this accident is available in References 3,7, and 8. 

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Calabresi G. The Cost of Accident. New Haven, CT Yale University Press 1970. 

On July 24,1994, an explosion followed by a number of fires occurred at 13 23 at the Texaco refinery in Milford Haven, Wales, England. Prior to this explosion, around 9 a.m., a severe coastal electrical storm caused plant disturbances that affected the vacuum distillation, alkylation, butamer, and FCC units. The explosion occurred due to a combination of failures in management, equipment, and control systems. Given its calculated TNT equivalent of at least 4 tons, significant portions of the refinery were damaged. That no fatalities occurred is attributed partially to the accident occurring on a Sunday, as well as the fortuitous location of those who were near the explosion. 

It is normal for people to fear what they cannot detect. An experienced war correspondent said of the accident at Three Mile Island, At least in a war you know you haven t been hit yet Similarly, risks that may take years to show up are more likely to be feared. [26]... 

A strong difference of opinion exists about what happened next. The fabricator, in sworn testimony for the administrative judicial hearings after the accident, claimed that his company (Havens) telephoned the engineering firm (G.C.E.) for change approval [from single- to double-rod connection]. G.C.E. denied ever receiving such a call from Havens. Be that as it was,... 

On the 24th of July 1994 in British refinery at Milford Haven one of the most serious accident in the history of petrochemical industry had occurred. After a chain of explosions in refinery a fire broke out which lasted... 

About 35% of severe injuries result from accidents occurring within the home, the place that is supposed to be a safe haven for children, and include falls, burns and scalds. 

Since the Torrey Canyon spiU, the spate of accidents that have occurred shows that the threat from accidental marine pollution remains (Amoco Cadiz, 1978, off Brittany, France Kark V, 1989, off the Atlantic coast of Morocco Exxon Valdez, 1989, Prince William Sound, Alaska, U.S.A. Haven, 1991, Genoa, Italy Braer, 1993, Shetland Islands, U.K. Sea Empress, 1996, Milford Haven, Wales, U.K. and Erika, 1999, off Brittany, France). 

I find that what I talk about repeatedly, and I emphasize repeatedly, conveys to my staff the areas in which I mean to have snperior resnlts. They know by what I do that we are not to have employee injuries, environmental spiUs, customer complaints about product quahty, or transportation accidents. I thoronghly review every such incident. Fortunately, there haven t been many of them. 

We can t be injury free unless we are near miss incident free and nntil we identify, report, and rectify near miss events, or the accidents we haven t had yet. 

Havens, J. A. (1987). Mathematical Models for Atmospheric Dispersion of Hazardous Chemical Gas Releases An Overview. International Symposium on Preventing Major Chemical Accidents. Feb, Washington, DC. New York American Instimte of Qiemi-cal Engineers. 

Because the numbers of recorded incidents and injuries are relatively low in most companies, they produce a limited amount of information about risk and there is a temptation to believe that all is well. The argument often put forward by managers - We haven t had any accidents, therefore we must be safe - takes no account of the potential for injury, or risk, which must be evaluated when deciding on appropriate measures to take. 

This accident occurred on February 15,1996 when an oil tanker named "Sea Empress" carrying 130,000 tons of Norfh Sea crude oil ran aground in the entrance to Milford Haven, Wales, UK. Although the vessel was refloated within few hours, if susfained serious damage to its center tanks and starboard that resulted in a massive oil release [36,37]. 

Current trends are important but can be misleading. If you try to look at the present or very near past, you can become overconfident because of a lucky streak of no accidents or possibly late reporting. This overconfidence can results in statements like Gee, we haven t had an accident in over a month now. Our safety program must have really kicked in ... 

Calabresi, Guido. (1970). The Cost of Accidents A Legal and Economic Analysis. New Haven, Conn Yale University Press. 

Investigators view accidents, and the numerous findings that inevitably follow, as indefatigable evidence of the inherent limits of organisational knowledge. They believe that there are always things that they haven t yet considered that could cause an accident - if they happened in a certain way, under particular conditions, or in conjunction with other specific events. 

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