List of Industrial Disasters - Other Industrial Disasters

Other Industrial Disasters

• January 20, 1909: Chicago Crib Disaster. During the construction of a water intake tunnel for the city of Chicago, a fire broke out on a temporary water crib used to access an intermediate point along the tunnel. The fire began in the dynamite magazine and burned the wooden dormitory that housed the tunnel workers. 46 workers survived the fire by jumping into the lake and climbing onto ice floes or the spoil heap near the crib. 29 men were burned beyond recognition, and approximately 60 men died. Most of the remainder drowned or froze to death in the lake and were not recovered.
• September 21, 1921: Oppau explosion in Germany. Occurred when a tower silo storing 4,500 tonnes of a mixture of ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded at a BASF plant in Oppau, now part of Ludwigshafen, Germany, killing 500–600 people and injuring about 2,000 more.
• 1932-1968: The Minamata disaster was caused by the dumping of mercury compounds in Minamata Bay, Japan. The Chisso Corporation, a fertilizer and later petrochemical company, was found responsible for polluting the bay for 37 years. It is estimated that over 3,000 people suffered various deformities, severe mercury poisoning symptoms or death from what became known as Minamata disease.
• April 16, 1947: Texas City Disaster, Texas. At 9:15 AM an explosion occurred aboard a docked ship named the Grandcamp. The explosion, and subsequent fires and explosions, is referred to as the worst industrial disaster in America. A minimum of 578 people lost their lives and another 3,500 were injured as the blast shattered windows from as far away as 25 mi (40 km). Large steel pieces were thrown more than a mile from the dock. The origin of the explosion was fire in the cargo on board the ship. Detonation of 3,200 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer aboard the Grandcamp led to further explosions and fires. The fertilizer shipment was to aid the struggling farmers of Europe recovering from World War II.
• 1948: A chemical tank wagon explosion within the BASF's Ludwigshafen, Germany site caused 207 fatalities.
• February 3, 1971: The Thiokol-Woodbine Explosion at a Thiokol chemical plant in Georgia killed 29 people and seriously injured 50.
• June 1, 1974: Flixborough disaster, England. An explosion at a chemical plant near the village of Flixborough killed 28 people and seriously injured another 36.
• July 10, 1976: Seveso disaster, in Seveso, Italy, in a small chemical manufacturing plant of ICMESA. Due to the release of dioxins into the atmosphere and throughout a large section of the Lombard Plain, 3,000 pets and farm animals died and, later, 70,000 animals were slaughtered to prevent dioxins from entering the food chain. In addition, 193 people in the affected areas suffered from chloracne and other symptoms. The disaster lead to the Seveso Directive, which was issued by the European Community and imposed much harsher industrial regulations.
• April 27, 1978: Willow Island disaster. A cooling tower for a power plant under construction in Willow Island, West Virginia collapsed, killing 51 construction workers. The cause was attributed to placing loads on recently poured concrete before it had cured sufficiently to withstand the loads. It is thought to be the largest construction accident in United States history.
• September and October, 1982: The so-called Chicago Tylenol murders occurred when seven people died after taking pain-relief medicine medicine capsules that had been poisoned. The poisonings took place in late 1982 in the Chicago area of the United States and involved Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules, manufactured by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, which had been laced with potassium cyanide. The incidents led to reforms in the packaging of over-the-counter substances and to federal anti-tampering laws. The case remains unsolved and no suspects have been charged. A $100,000 reward, offered by Johnson & Johnson, McNeil's parent company, for the capture and conviction of the "Tylenol Killer", has never been claimed.
• December 3, 1984: The Bhopal disaster in India is one of the largest industrial disasters on record. A runaway reaction in a tank containing poisonous methyl isocyanate caused the pressure relief system to vent large amounts to the atmosphere at a Union Carbide plant. Estimates of its death toll range from 4,000 to 20,000. The disaster caused the region's human and animal populations severe health problems to the present.
• November 1, 1986: The Sandoz disaster in Schweizerhalle, Switzerland, releasing tons of toxic agrochemicals into the Rhine.
• May 4, 1988: PEPCON disaster in Henderson, Nevada. Massive explosion at a chemical plant killed 2 people.
• June 28, 1988: Auburn, Indiana, improper mixing of chemicals killed four workers at a local metal-plating plant in the worst confined-space industrial accident in U.S. history; a fifth victim died two days later.
• October 23, 1989: Phillips Disaster. Explosion and fire killed 23 and injured 314 in Pasadena, Texas. Registered 3.5 on the Richter scale.
• May 1, 1991: Sterlington, Louisiana. An explosion at the IMC operated Angus Chemical Nitro-paraffin Plant Sterlington, Louisiana killed 8 workers and injured 120 other people. There was severe damage to the surrounding community. The blasts were heard more than 8 miles away.
• September 21, 2001: Toulouse, France. An explosion at the AZF fertilizer factory killed 29 and injured 2,500. Extensive structural damage to nearby neighbourhoods.
• October 4, 2010: Alumina plant accident. Ajka, Kolontár, Devecser and several other settlements, Hungary. The dam of Magyar Aluminium Zrt.'s red mud reservoir broke and the escaping highly toxic and alkaline (~pH 13) sludge flooded several settlements. There were nine victims including a young girl and hundreds of injuries (mostly chemical burns).
• November 08, 2012: Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, 2 people died and 17 injured in a industrial processing plant belonging to Neptune Technologies & Bioressources, a manufacturer of health care products.