Effects of Accidents and Catastrophes - Case Study Example

Effects of Accidents and Catastrophes Introduction In the world today many kinds of disasters, catastrophes and accidents take place. The world has always been in a cycle of all these events together. As the population has grown many such incidents have been witnessed which can be counted in either of the three categories. A hazard can be defined as a factor or factors which tend to cause harm to an individual or a thing. Different kinds of hazards exist in the world which can be co-related to small things like a banana peel to big things like toxic substances. An accident can directly be related to the integration of these hazards together to result in something harmful. Lord MacNaughton describes accident as “some concrete happening which intervenes or intrudes itself upon the normal course of employment. It has the everyday meaning of an unlooked-for mishap or an untoward event, which is not expected or designed by the victim”. Accidents are those events which get out of control and cannot be controlled and may cause harm. Accidents can either be preventable or unpreventable. This depends on whether the person can foresee the accident beforehand or not. Accidents can be caused by mistakes by men in anything. An example here can be cited of car accidents in which one individual may be at fault and because of this the other individual may not be ready and an accident would take place. On the other hand accidents can also be caused by faulty machinery too. Again here the example of cars can be taken in which cars are machines and if they get uncontrollable, man cannot do anything to handle them. Accidents can be subdivided into categories according to their intensity. The intensity here can be referred to as from a rationalistic perspective because loss of a single life can also be classified as a major accident for the ones who were close to that single life. These accidents can either be major or minor. The major accidents can be referred to as disasters and catastrophes. Disasters and catastrophes are again events which can either be caused by man or naturally. It can be said that accidents can cause damage to life and property but the intensity of damage here is less than that of catastrophes and disasters. Disasters are major accidents which take place on a large scale in specific areas. However it is not necessary that the whole areas are affected by these large scale disasters. On the other hand catastrophes are disasters which take place on an even larger scale. Catastrophes are not limited to one specific area but they expand over to the whole region affected most of the population (Kovach & McGuire 2003). Disasters Catastrophes and Accidents Industries have been a major source of risks and hazards in the present society. Millions of workers are working in the industries and any loss in the industry can cause a threat to the life of these millions. With the development of new industries the usage of toxic substances has increased and so has rate of accidents. It has been found that the different chemical and oil refineries are major producers of both toxic and flammable products. These toxic and flammable products then pose hazardous threats to the society. These hazardous threats can either be classified into fire, explosion or the spread of the lethal gases. It has been found by Glickman et al (1992) that the accidents in industries are mainly caused by the activities that take place there. These activities include the usage of items and substances done by the industrial individuals. And these substances can also cause spread of air pollution which can then be lethal to the individuals living in the society. With the increasing trends in the industries the rate of accidents and catastrophes in different industries has also increased. The industries which show a higher rate of accidents and catastrophes are mostly related to toxic, radiological or inflammatory substances. The industries which use such substances are fuel storage, gasworks, petrol stations fossil fuel corporations and petrochemical industries. Oil refinery is a refinery specially designed to cope up with the increasing demand of the scarce resource of oil in the world. The oil refineries are prone to major accidents and one such incident occurred in 1988 in the North Sea. Because of the management errors a major accident took place in the Piper Alpha platform. The individuals did not realize the importance of the safety devices here and turned them off for repairs, however this turning off cost them the lives of 167 people (Kovach and McGuire 2003). The nuclear power plant industry is one of the industries which use these hazardous substances the most in these days. Nuclear power plants are required not only to provide nuclear energy for the weapons but also the energy to serve important purposes like generating electricity. While having their own advantages the nuclear industry has its own cons of harming people the most than any other industry. It has the capability of killing a millions and creating catastrophes. Incidents have taken place in the past which have showed the potential of the harmful effect of these power plants on the society. One such example can be cited here is of Chernobyl nuclear incident. The incident occurred in the Republic of Ukraine solely because of the mistakes committed by the human beings themselves. The disaster took place in Chernobyl when the scientists in the nuclear power plant tried to carry out a new unauthorized research. Through this research the scientists aimed at finding out the mechanical inertia that a steam turbine possessed. They wanted to find out the exact amount of energy given off by these turbines before being provided with electricity. The experiment started off with the right measures of dropping the steam down and the power levels. However it was unknown to the scientists that they forgot to shut down the reactor and because of this safety devices got activated by themselves. Because of these devices a pressure given of f by the gases was built within the whole system and a set of explosions occurred. This explosion was so huge that it caused the heavy slab to blow off from the reactor and a lot of radioactive substances got out into the atmosphere. These radioactive substances got deposited over a radius of 1 km from the plant and they caused fires within the radius. Moreover the substances which got released in the atmosphere fused with the atmosphere to cause damage to the living things which respire. Following this explosion many efforts were made to divert the gases released so that the effect of the radioactive substances could be lessened. However the efforts were not successful enough and individuals living within the limits of the nuclear plant had to be evacuated. This incident was known as the Chernobyl Disaster. The incident caused a great loss of property and caused people to die. It caused less damage to the lives of people but the incident was large enough to be called as a catastrophe. The transport industry is another industry which has been a cause of accidents and catastrophes. In transport industry the minor accidents can even lead to catastrophes and disasters. With the development of transport industry it has been seen that many products and substances are transported from places to places. This transportation also involves the transport of hazardous and toxic materials. Road and water transportation are the most important ones in causing these accidents and disasters. An incident of road transportation disaster can be cited here in which 200 people were killed along with 120 people injured because of an explosion of a road tanker containing propane gas. This incident occurred in Spain in 1978. Because the transport industry has expanded more and more individuals are affected by any accident taking place in this industry. An incident for ship transportation can be considered here of Estonia in which 800 people lost their lives in 1994. Similarly another incident of Titanic can be considered here in which many people died thus giving the breakage of the ship a name of a disaster. The safest transportation mode is of the airlines. But after 9/11 attacks this aspect has also been changed as the airline industry faced a recession (Manion and Evan 2002 & McGuire et al 2002). Effects of Accidents and Catastrophes Different accidents and catastrophes which have taken place around the world have caused the loss of many lives. These incidents cause many lethal substances to be released in the atmosphere because of which human beings develop a disease or die directly from inhaling these substances. The nuclear explosions can release radiations and blast waves which are directly harmful to the human beings and may cause them to die directly. Similarly the fires and explosions also release toxic gases in the environment which can cause lethal effects on the long term. These gases can also cause the green house effect which is increasingly becoming a source of concern for the whole world (Goudie 2000). Prevention of Catastrophes and accidents Many of the catastrophes which have taken place in the world are manmade. This can be either related to the nuclear plants, transportation industry or any other industry. The Piper incident could clearly be avoided if the management did not act careless and kept all the options of safety before carrying out their processes. The catastrophe could clearly be prevented if the management kept a check on all the processes and kept in mind the results of the happenings if such carelessness would be shown. Similarly in the case of Titanic the crew could be held responsible for not citing the berg in front of their ship. The catastrophe again could be avoided here if the crew was a bit more careful in handling the ship. Chernobyl Disaster was another incident which took place because of the careless behavior showed by the nuclear scientists. The scientists should have authorized the experiment first and then carried it out so that everything was sorted out in a proper manner. It can be concluded that to prevent a man made catastrophe from occurring one must make sure that all the safety measures are taken beforehand. The relative authorities should be informed and all necessary setup for any mishap should be made beforehand. The effects of the catastrophe can also be minimized if the relative measures are taken by the authorities (Doolan et al 2008 & Manion and Evan 2002). Modern Day Threats Terrorist attacks have increased in the 21st Century after the emergence of Al Qaeda. The 9/11 attacks changed the whole aspect of the world and gave way to the terrorists to build up more space for them. Terrorism in the 21st century can be further divided into classes of religious terrorism or terrorism for the cause of poverty. With increasing poverty people are getting more and more involved in this practice. The terrorist attacks have not only limited themselves to the United States of America but they have expanded towards whole of the world. After 9/11 major incidents have also taken place in United Kingdom in which train stations have been bombed. Once of the bomb blast took place in Madrid and the other blast took place in London causing a loss to several lives (Wilson 2009). UK Disaster and Catastrophe Management With the increase in the disasters all the countries in the world today have to design a special plan in case of a disaster or catastrophe. Similarly the United Kingdom has laid down plans which comprises of a whole cycle so as to avoid the harmful effects of a disaster or catastrophe. This whole cycle either helps in avoiding the risks of creating a disaster or a catastrophe or it helps in decreasing the effects. Through this cycle all the hazards which comprise an accident, disaster or catastrophe are tried to be avoided. The management plans are usually carried out by local organizations in the UK. The management plan comprises of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Mitigation is the first step of disaster management plan and through this step it is aimed that the disasters do not take place at the first place. Basically in mitigation risk factors are assessed and it is seen that how these risk factors can affect the property or lives of individuals. The next phase in the disaster management cycle is known as the ‘preparedness’. This phase is usually carried out when a disaster strikes a specific place. In this phase all the emergency steps are taken because of which the effects of the disaster are made minimal. In it the managers tend to see how the disaster would affect the individuals or property and to what extent will the disaster cause its effect. Specific teams are formed in this phase which would help if the disaster strikes in the area. Moreover forms of communication are also developed in this phase. Lastly in this phase inventories and other essential items are stored which would be handy to make the effects of the disaster minimal. Thirdly in the phase of response the first response to the disaster is made. This response may include things such as ambulances, inventories and stock to the area that is affected by the disaster. Search and rescue is also a part of this phase in which the individuals affected by the disaster are tried to be evacuated. Lastly the phase of recovery starts in which the old state of the region is tried to be restored. This phase starts when all the individuals living in the area have been saved and the risk of death has decreased. In this phase several breakthroughs are made in the region and the property which has been destroyed is tried to be recovered. All these phases comprise a disaster management plan in the United Kingdom. Similarly on the other hand if the case of catastrophe management planning is considered, it can be seen that it is different than the disaster planning. Catastrophe is a very huge disaster which tends to affect the whole region and the planning may not be that effective as it would be in the disasters. In catastrophe planning all the local and federal organizations are involved in the recovery and response phase. In mitigation phase the government tries to influence the industries by the laws and regulations implemented on them. Moreover it has its own governmental bodies formed through which the government can keep a check on the industries. Through these the government can avoid the catastrophes or can make the effects minimal (Bosher et al 2007 & Disaster Management Handbook 2008). Bibliography O'Mahony MT, Doolan D, O'Sullivan A, & Hession M. (2008). Emergency planning and the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH/Seveso II) Directive: an approach to determine the public safety zone for toxic cloud releases. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 154 (1-3), 1-3. Goudie, A. (2000). The human impact on the natural environment. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Kovach, R. L., & McGuire, B. (2003). Guide to global hazards. London: Philip's. Manion, M., & Evan, W. M. (2002). Technological catastrophes: their causes and prevention. TECHNOLOGY IN SOCIETY. 24 (3), 207-224. McGuire, B., Mason, I., & Kilburn, C. R. J. (2002). Natural hazards and environmental change. Key issues in environmental change. London: Arnold. Top of Form Glickman, T. S., Golding, D., & Silverman, E. D. (1992).Acts of God and acts of man: Recent trends in natural disasters and major industrial accidents. Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future. Top of Form Bosher, L., Dainty, A., Carrillo, P., Glass, J., & Price, A. (2007). Integrating disaster risk management into construction: a UK perspective. BUILDING RESEARCH AND INFORMATION. 35 (2), 163-177. Top of Form Disaster management handbook. (2008). Public administration and public policy, 138. Boca Raton, Fla: CRC Press. http://ezproxy.uws.edu.au/login?url=http://www.myilibrary.com?id=123875. Top of Form Wilson, M. (2009). Terrorism. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Glossary Hazards: - A source of danger Disaster: - A sudden calamitous event bringing damage or loss Catastrophe: - A disaster huge enough to be named as catastrophe Accident: - usually an unfortunate event which is unexpected Victim: - a living agent which is adversely affected by a force or agent Toxic: - A material which is poisonous is known as toxic material. Lethal: - gravely damaging or destructive Radiologic: - relating to nuclear radiation Inflammatory: - tends to cause inflammation Fossil fuel: - a fuel formed in the earth from plant or animal sources Chernobyl: - A town in Ukraine Terrorism:- the systemic use of terror Read More