CHAPTER 1
Accident : Undesired circumstances gives rise to
ill-health, injury, damage to property, plant, product,
environment or increase liabilities.
Incident : Undesired circumstance and near misses
which could cause accident.
Ill-health : Acute and chronic ill health caused by
physical chemical or biological agents and can affect
mental health.
Hazard : Potential to cause harm.
Risk : Likehood that a specified undesired event will
occur due to realization of hazard.
Safety : Control of accidental loss.
TRAGEDY IN MALAYSIA
1. Bright Sparkles (Sg. Buloh, 1991)
- Firework factory caught fire and cause huge
explosion
- 26 died, hundreds injured
- damaged over 200 residential properties
Cause
- Explosive chemical split during experiment at
canteen
- Chemical sparked of fire and spread rapidly to
nearby pile of large firecrackers (Bazookas)
- Bazookas turn into chain of explosion that
ripped apart the factory and nearby
buildings.
2. Fire Incident at Gas Processing Plant Complex A
(Kertih, 2012)
- Death of maintenance worker
Cause
Suspected from gas leak to water drain
3. Highland Tower Collapse (1993)
- Apartment at Ulu Klang collapse.
- 1 block collapse
- 48 dead
- 2 other blocks undergo complete evacuation
due to safety
Cause
- soil had no protection against erosion
- due to piping system on a hill nearby
- during 10 day of monsoon, pipe burst
- combination of monsoon and loose soil led to
landslide
- break retaining wall and destroy the pier
foundation system
Step Prevention
- effect of erosion should be taken into account
- design stronger retaining walls and deeper in
the ground
TRAGEDY INTERNATIONAL
1. Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984)
- release toxic gas (MIC) into the city
- people woke up with burning sensation in lung
- thousands died
Cause
- using toxic gas instead of less dangerous
- storing chemical in large tank instead of over
200 steel drums
- possible corroding material in pipeline
- poor maintenance
- failure of several system
- shut down safety system to save cost
- design by not expert to save cost
2. Chernobyl, Ukraine (1986)
- nuclear reactor destroy
- release radioactive into environment
- use helicopter to pour sand and boron
- closed area within 30km
- cut down pine forest to reduce contamination
Cause
- operator error
- operation instruction and design deficiencies
3. Piper Alpha (1988)
- explosion at offshore platform
Cause
- gas escape from the hole at high pressure
- ignite and explode
- water spray system was turn off
- error in gas alarm
- human error and design error
4. Mecca Crane Collapse (2015)
- crane collapse during pilgrim season
Cause
- heavy rain, strong wind and lightning strike
- disobey order to relocate crane