Notable industrial disasters are detailed in this article; these are catastrophes that industrial corporations have caused via carelessness or ineptitude. A major industrial accident is one that results in significant property damage, personal injury, or fatalities.
If the tragedy’s origins can be traced back to manufactured goods or manufacturing techniques, then it might be classified as an industrial disaster. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871, for instance, may have been prevented if there hadn’t been a high concentration of lumber industry operations, wood homes, fuel, and other chemicals in such a compact area.
To prevent further damage to people and the environment from industrial accidents, a convention was created called the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents. The purpose of the Convention is to reduce the likelihood, severity, and impact of accidents. The Convention’s primary focus is on preventing and resolving issues arising from industrial accidents in one nation that have an impact on the people and ecosystems of another.
Defense industry
- Canada, on December 6th, 1917, Halifax. The Bombing of Halifax. After colliding in Halifax Harbor, a ship carrying almost 9,000 tonnes of heavy explosives was on its way to France when it caught fire and exploded. Roughly 2,000 people were killed and another 9,000 were injured in the blast.
- An explosion occurred at the T. A. Gillespie Company’s Shell Loading Plant on October 4, 1918. About a hundred people were killed and 300 structures were destroyed when a munitions plant in Sayreville, New Jersey, exploded, costing an estimated $18 million in damages.
- The disaster at the Nixon Nitration Works on March 1, 1924. A blast at an ammonium nitrate manufacturing plant in Edison, New Jersey, claimed the lives of 24 individuals, injured 100 others, and destroyed multiple structures.
- The Bombay docks exploded on April 14, 1944. After improperly storing 1400 tonnes of explosives and 240 tonnes of weaponry (torpedoes and mines), the British ship SS Fort Stikine caught fire, causing two enormous explosions that killed between 800 and 1300 people. Fires broke out all throughout the city as a result of the explosion, and it took months to get the docks back in working order.
- Disaster in Port Chicago on July 17, 1944. In Port Chicago, California, 320 persons were killed in a weapons explosion at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine.
The RAF Fauld Explosion, November 27, 1944. Seventy people perished when an underground munitions depot exploded, releasing between 3,500 and 4,000 tonnes of ammunition. - Arson at the Searcy missile silo in Arkansas on August 9th, 1965. During a fire at a Titan missile silo, 53 contract employees perished. It was found that a welding rod punctured a hydraulic pipe containing Aerozine 50 fuel, which led to the fire.
- An open flame was then used to set ablaze the hypergolic fuel vapours throughout the silo.
Lapua Cartridge Factory exploded on April 13, 1976. Forty people are killed in an explosion at a munitions factory in Lapua, Finland.
Romanian “6 Martie” Munitions Plant, Zărnești, May 5th, 1983. - A blast in the factory’s manufacturing areas wiped out two buildings and killed 37 people and injured more than 300 more.
- Location: Ojhri Camp in Rawalpindi, Pakistan; April 10, 1988. More than ninety persons were killed in an explosion at a military storage facility.
An explosion occurred at the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base in Cyprus on July 11, 2011. A total of thirteen persons lost their lives when a shipment of ninety-eight canisters of gunpowder detonated, including the base’s captain, three commanders, two marine brothers, and six firefighters. The blast injured 62 people and caused the island’s power plant to be out of commission for days.
The Western Nevada Materials plant in Spanish Springs called in a report of an industrial accident with injuries, and the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office responded. Sheriff’s deputies arrived just in time to begin doing CPR on a critically injured person. Mine Safety and Health Administration and the Washoe County Medical Examiner’s Office are now conducting an inquiry. If there are any updates to this story, we will share them with you right here.
