ABSTRACT

This is a reprint of ISBN 978-0-901357-46-5

Disasters: learning the lessons for a safer world is both a tribute to the victims of past safety failures and a warning against complacency and cutting corners today. It also recognises the achievements of health and safety professionals and others in learning the lessons of past mistakes. As Trevor Kletz has written, "Someone has paid the 'tuition fess'. There is no need for you to pay them again."

Illustrated throughout in colour, the book looks at over 90 accidents, incidents and safety failures. Some, like Aberfan, Chernobyl and Hillsborough, are known simply by a single place name. Others have now faded from our collective consciousness but still have important lessons for us today, such as the early fires, explosions and mining disasters that paved the way for better safety management.

Disasters: learning the lessons for a safer world offers:

  • a description of events from 1800 to the present day
  • a wide range of incidents, from explosions and fires to floods, pollution and human and animal ill health
  • information on the background to each incident, what happened and the lessons that were learnt
  • an exploration of the politics of disaster and risk reduction

chapter |2 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|7 pages

Too young to die

chapter 2|7 pages

Flixborough, Limberg and Enschede

chapter 3|7 pages

Deadly fires

chapter 4|10 pages

More conflagrations

chapter 5|8 pages

Gas explosions

chapter 6|6 pages

Ignorance is not blissful

chapter 7|6 pages

Seveso and other environmental calamities

chapter 8|8 pages

Unwelcome off-site consequences

chapter 9|6 pages

High explosives

chapter 10|11 pages

Maritime disasters

chapter 11|8 pages

Marine pollution

chapter 12|12 pages

Offshore catastrophes

chapter 13|6 pages

Aviation accidents

chapter 14|6 pages

Catastrophes in space

chapter 15|12 pages

Nuclear disasters

chapter 16|6 pages

Trouble in store

chapter 17|6 pages

Buncefield oil storage depot

chapter 18|6 pages

The price of coal

chapter 19|10 pages

Railways

chapter 20|4 pages

Crowd crushes

chapter 21|7 pages

Stadium tragedies

chapter 22|10 pages

The human factor

chapter 23|6 pages

Safety culture under strain

chapter 24|8 pages

Structural collapses

chapter 25|6 pages

Floods

chapter 26|8 pages

Silent killers at work

chapter 27|10 pages

Public health

chapter 28|10 pages

Animal health catastrophes

chapter 29|5 pages

Bhopal

chapter 30|4 pages

Reducing hazards and risks

chapter 31|6 pages

The politics of disaster

chapter 32|2 pages

Establishing a culture of safety