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7. Industrial Accident
An average of 5,000-6,000 work-related fatalities occur
each year in the U.S. While the occupational mortality
rate for ages 25-64 has declined by 57% since 1912, this
remains a far lower reduction than in other areas of public
safety, such as hurricane casualties or aircraft accidents.
Mining and oil/gas extraction are the most dangerous
industries, with the highest fatality rates per
worker. It is in these same industries where the greatest
potential for major incidents exists.
Explosions, transportation accidents, and chemical
releases all pose a threat to people living, working, or
traveling in the vicinity of the accident.
7.1 Accidental Explosions
When accidental explosions occur, either in an industrial
setting or in the detonation of transported goods, the
explosive yields can devastate very large areas, and have
the potential to injure many people. A catastrophic
industrial explosion occurs somewhere in the world
every few years, as in 2001 at the Toulouse AZF fertilizer
plant in France and 2003 at the LNG compression
plant in Skikda, Algeria. Both of these explosions caused
devastation to houses, schools, and other industries at
more than a mile around the accident site, and blew out
windows as far as 3 miles (5 km) away.
In the U.S. some of the largest historical accidents
have been explosions of material and munitions in transit.
On April 16, 1947 the S.S. Grandcamp, carrying
ammonium nitrate fertilizer, exploded in the Texas City
harbor.The explosion destroyed parts of the port, created
a 15-foot (5-meter) tidal wave and was felt 75 miles
(121 km) away in Port Arthur. A 1-ton turbine caught in
the blast was thrown three quarters of a mile (1.2 km).
The explosion brought down two small aircraft circling
overhead and set fire to a second ship berthed nearby,
which also exploded. The disaster killed 576 and injured
several thousand people. The S.S. Grandcamp incident
still counts as the most lethal industrial accident in the U.S.
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