Other Accidents

The preceding sections have given only a sampling of the major accidents that have occurred tlu-oughout history. However, there have been numerous other incidents, which were perhaps less renowned but certainly not less tragic to the families of the victims. E.xaniples of some less renowned accidents arc  

Apparently triggered by an earthquake of Richter magnitude 5.0, die endre north slope burst open along the upper edge of die bulge, releasing the 

000 wild and domestic animals may also have been killed.  

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While the F-N curve is a cumulative illustration, the risk profile shows the expected frequency of accidents of a particular category or level of consequence. The diagonal line is a line of constant risk defined such that the product of expected frequency and consequence is a constant at each point along the line. " As the consequences of accidents go up, the expected frequency should go down in order for the risk to remain constant. As the example illustrates, if a portion of the histogram sticks its head up above the line (i.e., a particular type of accident contributes more than its fair share of the risk), then that risk is inconsistent with the risk presented by other accident types. (Note There is no requirement that you use a line of constant risk other more appropriate risk criteria for your application can be easily defined and displayed on the graph.)... 

The risk to an average individual in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant of prompt fatalities that might result from reactor accidents should not exceed 0.1% of the sum of prompt fatality ri.sks from other accidents to which members of the U.S. population are generally exposed. ... 

In 1968, after 16 of years experience in production, 1 was transferred to a new position in safety. It was an unusual move at the time for someone with my background, but five deaths from three serious fires in three years, two of them the results of poor preparation for maintenance, convinced the senior management that more resources should be devoted to safety and that it could no longer be left to nontechnical people and elderly foremen. Since then I have read scores of reports about other accidents that happened because of this cause. Some were serious others were near-misses. 

Operators should be trained to look before they leap when they find valves wrongly set. See also Section 3.3.5 (a). Other accidents that occurred because operators failed to carry out simple tasks are described in Sections 13.5 and 17.1. 

Many accidents have occurred because instrument readings or alarms were ignored (see Sections 3.2.8, 3.3.1, and 3.3.2). Many other accidents, including Bhopal (see Section 21.1), have occurred because alarms and trips were not tested or not tested thoroughly, or because alarms and trips were made inoperative or their settings altered, both without authority. These and some related accidents are described below. 

High numbers of casualties, severe material datnage, and production losses due to fires, explosions, and other accidents in recent years liave motivated all sectors of industry and responsible autliorities to initiate scientific investigations of these deadly phenomena. The ultimate goal of the investigations is to develop safety measures tliat will prevent or limit tlie effects of such accidents. 

Will toxic fumes or fires, explosions or other accidents at the plant affect the surrounding community ... 

The rapid growth and expansion of the chemical industry has been accompanied by a spontaneous rise in human, material, and property losses because of fires, explosions, hazardous and toxic spills, equipment failures, other accidents, and business interruptions. Concern over the potential consequences of catastrophic accidents, particularly at chemical and petrochemical plants, has sparked interest at both the industrial and regulatory levels in obtaining a better understanding of the subject of this book Health, Safety, and Accident Management (HS AM). The writing of this book was undertaken, in part, as a result of this growing concern. 

This book is divided into five parts the problem, accidents, health risk, hazard risk, and hazard risk analysis. Part 1, an introduction to HS AM, presents legal considerations, emergency planning, and emergency response. This Part basically ser es as an oveiwiew to the more teclmical topics covered in the remainder of the book. Part 11 treats the broad subject of accidents, discussing fires, explosions and other accidents. The chapters in Parts 111 and Part IV provide introductory material to health and hazard risk assessment, respectively. Pai1 V examines hazaid risk analysis in significant detail. The thiee chapters in this final part include material on fundamentals of applicable statistics theory, and the applications and calculations of risk analysis for real systems. 

Chapter I Past History, John O Byrne Chapter 2 Legislation, Gaetano LaVigua Chapter 3 Emergency Planning and Response, Elizabeth Shoen Chapter 5 Fires, Explosions and Other Accidents, Nat Federici and Isabella Schroeder... 

Prevent accidents. Chemical substances and processes should minimize the potential for fires, explosions, or other accidents. 

The acidic properties of methanesulphonic acid that have just been mentioned have been responsible for two other accidents. When this acid is contact with methyl and vinyl oxide, this caused the latter to polymerise violently. The electrolysis of methanesulphonic acid with an aqueous solution of hydrogen fluoride gives rise to a violent detonation that was put down to the formation of oxygen difluoride that is explosive. 

Other accidents could have introduced early cultures to the hallucinatory effects. While harvesting the plant for seeds (for oil) or fiber, accidental fires could have produced a resinous smoke, which was then inhaled. The smoke would have also appealed to the magicoreligious practices of native shamans (30). The smoke itself is inherently evocative of visions and mystery—a natural medium for shamanism It contained a property that could induce a form of trance it was readily consumed by the cleansing power of fire its smoke rose to the abode of the gods and it allowed dreams to be materialized. 

Using the 7-stage protocol, the previous accidents can be explained and causal weaknesses in the safety management system of the company can be identified, i.e. the identified latent conditions on the tactical and operational control levels. To test the working of the developed protocol further, in the next Chapter practice will be approached from hindsight to verify whether other accidents can also be explained. If this is a success, practice will be approached pro-actively. 

Moving away from the site of the attack as quickly as possible will reduce the amount of exposure. Orderly retreat will reduce the risk of other accidents such as sprains or broken bones. An individual could receive additional exposure for every minute spent in the open near the attack site. If he has had direct contact with a hazardous substance, the time of exposure should be minimized. Hazardous substances on the skin, clothing, and hair should be removed as quickly as possible using specific decontamination methods outlined in Chapter 7. Special medical attention should be administered as soon as possible if an individual has ingested or inhaled a hazardous substance or if the hazardous substance entered the body through a wound. Consider the following example ... 

Adverse effects. A causal role of acute cannabis intoxication in motor vehicle and other accidents has been shown by the pres-... 

According to Refs 1,2 and 4, Aerozine-50 (UDMH/hydrazine—50/50 wt %) is used as the first stage fuel in the ICB Titan Missile system. This fuel provides a minimal make-ready and launch time as compared to a solid propint system. However, since 1975 there have been 125 reported accidents involving complete missile systems using this fuel. Indeed, ref 3 reports that, Two airmen have been killed and nearly 80 injured, some seriously, as the result of leaks in the missiles fuel and propulsion systems and other accidents. 

In the case of pesticides which are not ChE inhibitors, exposure is measured by the analysis of blood and/or urine for the active ingredient or its metabolites. Baseline levels of pesticides and/or metabolites are not usually determined, with the exception of methyl bromide. In this case, a blood sample is taken to check for bromide ion before fumigators use the pesticide. Blood and urine tests are run only in the case of spills or other accidents to assist in identifying the cause of poisoning or to monitor workers in a workplace. Paraquat, chlorinated hydrocarbons, mercury, p-nitrophenol, and dinitrophenol are examples of pesticides or metabolites of pesticides that have been found in the urine of exposed workers. 

Yet this difficulty is not so great, as it appears from the first reading of the Philosophers some teach, (Trevisan) that Nature has always the balance in her hand, to weight these Elements, and to so proportion her mixtures, that there will always result from them the Mixt which she proposes to make unless she is hindered in her operations, by the defect of the matrix in which she performs her operations, or by the defect of the germs which are furnished to her, or by other accidents. We see, even in common chemistry, that two heterogeneous bodies do not mix, or cannot remain long united that when water has dissolved a certain quantity of salt, it does not dissolve more that the more affinity bodies have, the more they seem to seek each other, even leaving a body for one for which they have more affinity. These experiments are known, especially between the minerals and the metals. 

After acute dermal or ocular exposure due to DEHP spills or other accidents, contaminated clothing should be removed and exposed skin thoroughly washed with soap and water (HSDB 2000). Exposed eyes should be flushed with a clean neutral solution such as water or saline. 

In the past only two nuclear accidents (Three Mile Island and Chernobyl) were widely reported, while over 100 went unreported. These other accident were not caused by only earthquakes, design errors or terrorist acts, but more recently also by software virus attacks through the Internet. For example, on January 25, 2003 a Slammer worm penetrated the private computer network of Ohio s Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, and stopped its control computer. The only reason a meltdown did not result is because the plant was not in operation. 

The only way for microbes to enter a healthy plant is via the stomata or at sites of injury, inflicted by herbivory, wind, or other accidents. At the site of wounding, plants often accumulate suberin, lignin, callose, gums, or other resinous substances which close off the respective areas (4.17). In addition, antimicrobial agents are produced such as lysozyme and chitinase, lytic enzymes stored in the vacuole which can degrade bacterial and fungal cell walls, protease inhibitors which can inhibit microbial proteases, or secondary metabolites with antimicrobial activity. 

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