Preventing major industrial accidents in Asia : A guideILO East Asia Multidisciplinary Advisory Team (ILO/EASMAT), ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Bangkok |
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Causes |
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Consequences |
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Major industrial accidents: Causes and consequences |
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During 1980s and 1990s, many Asian countries progressed with industrialization and achieved high economic growth. While several countries are still experiencing economic difficulties since mid-1997, the countries of Asia continue to promote employment generation along with the rapid industrialization and modernization of agriculture. New industries have been set up with new processes, using sophisticated apparatus, creating at the same time new kinds of hazards. If steps are not taken in time, such hazards can develop into major disasters resulting in an enormous number of casualties and extensive damage to property and the surrounding environment.
A data bank on industrial recorded 124 fatal accidents involving hazardous substances in the region. Since more than 65 per cent of them took place in only two countries and none in seven, it appears that many more occurred but went unrecorded. Some of the more severe ones are mentioned in Table 1 (page 3).
Early action should be taken by governments and employers' and workers' organizations to stem the rising number of accidents. In India, the Ministries of Labour and Environment are carrying out an extensive programme and legislation on major hazard control has been introduced. Malaysia has set up a unit for major hazard control within the Ministry of Human Resources. Indonesia and Thailand have taken steps to review the situation and identify major hazard installations. However, efforts have been scattered and unsystematic in most countries. Where a major hazard control system has been initiated, it needs to be improved, expanded, and completed. Major risks are recognized, but preventive laws are generally inadequate to cope with hazards and emergencies. The enforcement efforts of the governmental agencies concerned with the protection of workers, the public, and the environment are not properly coordinated.
Employers, workers, and the public are not fully aware of the damage that hazardous substances can cause. As a result, when a serious accident occurs, those involved are overwhelmed by its immediate effects, unable to grasp the full dimensions of its consequences. After the victims have been attended to and the incident generally brought under control, an assessment has to be made of how to deal with the consequences of the accident and carry on with tasks: repair the damage, restart the plant, prevent a recurrence.
Table 1. Major industrial accidents in Asia
| Hazardous substance | Deaths | Injuries | Place and date of accident |
| Methyl isocyanate | >2 500 | >200 000 | Bhopal, India,1984 |
| Gunpowder | 9 | 59 | Seoul, Republic of Korea, 1987 |
| Liquefied petroleum gas | 35 | 15 | Nagothane, India, 1990 |
| Fireworks | 40 | 60 | Sungei Buloh, Malaysia, 1991 |
| Ammonia | 7 | 30 | Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1991 |
| Flammable chemicals | 5 | >200 | Bangkok, Thailand, 1991 |
| Gunpowder | 63 | 52 | Hubei, China, 1993 |
| Reaction between hydrosulphate and sodium sulphide | 15 | 25 | Shenzen, China, 1993 |
| Ethene | 9 | 6 | Beijing, China, 1997 |
| Potassium chlorate | 35 | 104 | Chiang Mai, Thailand, 1999 |
| Petrol | 7 | 12 | Chonburi, Thailand, 1999 |
| Carbonyl chloride (phosgene) | 1 | 101 | Rayong, Thailand, 2000 |
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CAUSES |
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Major accidents may generally be caused by human failures or errors, technical faults or external forces. They almost always result from a number of causes, mainly human failures, not only on the part of the operators immediately concerned, but also maintenance personnel, supervisors management, and plant and equipment designers and suppliers. Technical failures usually arise from human errors such as poor maintenance, overloading or improper use. Therefore attention should be directed more to preventing human errors and failures at all levels.
- COMMON CAUSE FAILURESOften, one event or condition can lead to a number of faults or failures, called common cause failures. A poorly trained and instructed operator is likely to take wrong action. If a company does not have a well-organized training programme, it is probably because its management does not consider safety a first priority and does not devote adequate time and money to it. Not only operator training and instruction, but also technical safety and maintenance of the installation tend to be neglected.
The most dangerous common cause failures are of an organizational nature: in- sufficient management commitment to safety, lack of communication between departments, inadequate instruction and information to workers. The higher a common cause failure is located in the management hierarchy, the more harm it can lead to. Management should be fully committed to plant safety and its commitment made known to all personnel.
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CONSEQUENCES |
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- Immediate consequences
The immediate consequences of a major accident may be many dead or injured, heavy damage to installations and buildings, and pollution and damage to the environment. Workers and the installations are mostly affected, but serious accidents can also endanger the nearby population and environment.
- Long-term consequences
A serious accident has long-term effects at three levels: the enterprise, the people living in the vicinity, and the environment.
The enterprise is affected by:
- adverse public reaction
- unfavourable publicity in the press, radio, and television
- extensive repair or replacement, loss of production, interruption of supply to customers and break in relations with them
- investigations by the judiciary, possibly generating further unfavourable publicity
- lawsuits resulting in severe punishment of the guilty: heavy fines or prison terms
- indemnification of the victims and their relatives
- additional safety measures required by the competent authorities
- increased insurance rates expenses for recruitment and training of new personnel.
As a result, the plant may have to be shut down for a long time, perhaps permanently.
People living in the vicinity of the accident may become permanently disabled or emotionally disturbed. Some chemical substances can cause illnesses that manifest themselves long after actual exposure. Besides damage to property near the plant site, the property value itself may decline as people may not want to live near a potentially unsafe area.
Hazardous substances released in the accident may be detrimental to the environment, animals, and vegetation: crops may be spoiled and water supplies polluted, land may not be suitable for cattle-grazing or crop qrowing for a long time.
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