Accidents in European ports involving chemical substances: Characteristics and trends. (June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lecue, Mikel; Darbra, R.M.
• Is Part Of: Safety science. Volume 115(2019)
• Page Start: 278
• Page End: 284
• Publication Date: 2019-06
• Subjects: Accidents -- European ports -- Chemical substances -- Risk -- Trends; Industrial accidents -- Periodicals; Accident Prevention -- Periodicals; Safety -- Periodicals; Travail -- Accidents -- Périodiques; 363.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2019.02.015
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0925-7535

Abstract

Highlights: A study of more than 650 accidents in European ports has been conducted. Decrease in the number of port accidents in Europe in the last century. More training is required to reduce accidents due to human factor (27.3%). Accidents originate in typical port operations: transport and transfer (73%). European accidents have less severe consequences on population than worlwide ones. Abstract: This paper has studied more than 650 accidents occurred in European ports. The main characteristic of all these accidents is that they involve chemical substances with their consequent risk for society and environment. Accidents occurred in European ports from 1919 until present have been analyzed in detail to understand better their main characteristics and typology. Most of the accidents have occurred in the last decades, being France (29.9%) the country with the higher percentage of accidents followed by UK (25.8%). The most common type of substance involved in the accidents is oil or related products (56.8%) and in most of the accidents a release of material occurred (61.0%), being the latter the type of accident that has increased the most in the last years. The main origin of the accidents is transport (41.7%) and transfer (31.5%), both typical port operations. Impact is the most common cause of accidents in ports (45.1%). Concerning the consequences on population, European accidents seem to have less severe consequences on population than accidents in ports worldwide. The number of accidents increased during the 20th century but it can be observed that there has been a clear reduction in the new century.