Industrial accidents Chernobyl disaster

A much more serious nuclear accident occurred at Chernobyl in the USSR on April 26, 1986, when one of the Chernobyl units experienced a full-core meltdown. The Chernobyl accident has been called the worse disaster of the industrial age. An area comprising more than 60,000 square miles in the Ukraine and Belarus was contaminated, and more than 160,000 people were evacuated. However, wind and water have spread the contamination, and many radiation-related illnesses, birth defects, and miscarriages have been attributed to the Chernobyl disaster. 

Investigations of industrial accidents reveal that most are caused by human error. The twentieth century s worst industrial disasters—Bhopal, Three Mile Island, and Chernobyl—helped clarify the complex chain of system problems that lead to human error. System problems are problems caused by a process system with built in design and operating deficiencies. The accidents provided numerous checklists and case studies for control room and equipment design. A partial list of some of the problems found at the industrial sites mentioned above are ... 

Industrial disasters have played a major part in generating the fascination for studying human faults and human errors. Without the nuclear industry and its disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and more recently at Fukushima, without the aviation industry and the accident in Tenerife, and without the Bhopal disaster in the chemical industry, very little progress would have been made towards theories on error, safety and human reliability. 

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