{ "id": "http://connectivity-hub.com/terms/7d01a7a9-eebd-4b9e-bad2-6094cabdafb2", "type": "Concept", "prefLabel": { "en": "Leaks and Spills" }, "definition": { "en": "A leak or a spill is an incident involving the uncontrolled release of a toxic substance, potentially resulting in harm to public health and the environment. Chemical incidents can occur as a result of natural events, or as a result of accidental or intentional events. These incidents can be sudden and acute or have a slow onset when there is a ‘silent’ release of a chemical. Chemical leaks and spills can range from small releases to full-scale major emergencies (adapted from WHO, 2020).

WHO, 2020. Chemical incidents. World Health Organization (WHO). Accessed 23 October 2020.

" }, "editorialNote": { "en": [ "source:UNDRR HIPS" ] }, "scopeNote": { "en": [ "Three notable examples of technological incidents involving a chemical leak and/or spill are the Seveso chemical leak, the Bhopal chemical leak and the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Seveso chemical leak: At approximately 12:37 on Saturday 10 July 1976, a bursting disc on a chemical reactor ruptured at the Icmesa chemical company, Seveso, Italy. Maintenance staff heard a whistling sound and a cloud of vapour was seen to issue from a vent on the roof. A dense white cloud, of considerable altitude drifted offsite. Among the substances in the white cloud was a small deposit of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (‘TCDD’ or ‘dioxin’), a highly toxic material. The release lasted for twenty minutes. Over the next few days there was confusion due to the lack of communication between the company and the authorities in dealing with this type of situation. The nearby town of Seveso, located 15 miles from Milan, had 17,000 inhabitants. No human deaths were attributed to TCDD but many people fell ill. Thousands of animals in the contaminated area died and many thousands more were slaughtered to prevent TCDD entering the food chain (HSE, no date). Bhopal chemical leak: On 3 December 1984, more than 40 tons of methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. The gas drifted over the densely populated neighbourhoods around the plant killing thousands of people immediately. The leak also had long-term effects on health, with estimates of over 15,000 people killed in the years following the leak. This event highlighted the need for enforceable international standards for environmental safety, preventative strategies to avoid similar accidents and industrial disaster preparedness (Broughton, 2005). Exxon Valdez oil spill: On 24 March 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a charted rock, Bligh Reef, in Alaska’s northern Prince William Sound. More than 11 million litres of crude oil spilled, eventually polluting over 30,000 km2 of coastal and offshore waters (Peterson et al., 2003). Technological incidents such as chemical spills and leaks can be sudden and acute, when hazardous chemicals are ‘overtly’ released into the environment. Some chemical leaks and spillages may also result in fires, explosions and contamination of land. The factors leading up to an incident include poor maintenance of manufacturing and storage equipment, lack of regulation and/or poor enforcement of safety regulations, road traffic accidents, human error, natural events such as heavy rain, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and terrorism (WHO, no date). Chemical spills and leaks are one of the issues addressed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). They report that spills and leaks from containers are a major problem in the storage and transport of pesticides. The main cause of these spills and leaks is rough handling which dents drums, weakens or splits seams and weakens closures (lids, caps, stoppers). Leaks also result from corrosion of the container, which may be accelerated by mechanical damage (dents may rupture drum linings). Corrosion may start internally, with the pesticide itself or its breakdown products being the primary cause. Alternatively, corrosion may begin externally, due to rusting in damp storage conditions or contamination from chemicals leaking from nearby containers. Rodents may damage paper, board or fibre containers. Termites may attack paper and card. Pesticides should be repacked in containers made of the same materials as the original containers because some chemicals are not compatible with different materials (FAO, no date). Most chemical spill-related technological incidents occur at the interfaces between transport, storage, processing, use, and disposal of hazardous chemicals, where these systems are more vulnerable to failure, error or manipulation. Exposure levels will in general be quite different for different people involved in a chemical incident (WHO, no date):" ] }, "broader": { "id": "http://connectivity-hub.com/terms/c58bdc83-e63e-430e-950f-7e2bad34fec2", "prefLabel": { "en": "Industrial Failure" } }, "inScheme": [ { "id": "http://connectivity-hub.com/terms/", "title": { "en": "Climate Connectivity Taxonomy" } } ], "inSchemeAll": [ { "id": "http://connectivity-hub.com/terms/" } ], "@context": { "@version": 1.1, "id": "@id", "type": "@type", "@vocab": "http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#", "xsd": "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#", "dct": "http://purl.org/dc/terms/", "dc": "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/", "schema": "https://schema.org/", "vann": "http://purl.org/vocab/vann/", "ldp": "http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#", "owl": "http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#", "title": { "@id": "dct:title", "@container": "@language" }, "dc:title": { "@id": "dc:title", "@container": "@language" }, "dc:description": { "@id": "dc:description", "@container": "@language" }, "description": { "@id": "dct:description", "@container": "@language" }, "license": { "@id": "dct:license", "@container": "@language" }, "issued": { "@id": "dct:issued", "@type": "xsd:date" }, "created": { "@id": "dct:created", "@type": "xsd:date" }, "modified": { "@id": "dct:modified", "@type": "xsd:date" }, "creator": "dct:creator", "publisher": "dct:publisher", "preferredNamespacePrefix": "vann:preferredNamespacePrefix", "preferredNamespaceUri": "vann:preferredNamespaceUri", "isBasedOn": "schema:isBasedOn", "source": "dct:source", "prefLabel": { "@container": "@language" }, "altLabel": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "hiddenLabel": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "definition": { "@container": "@language" }, "note": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "changeNote": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "editorialNote": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "historyNote": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "scopeNote": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "notation": { "@container": "@set" }, "example": { "@container": "@language" }, "narrower": { "@container": "@set" }, "related": { "@container": "@set" }, "relatedMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "narrowerTransitive": { "@container": "@set" }, "broaderTransitive": { "@container": "@set" }, "broadMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "narrowMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "closeMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "exactMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "hasTopConcept": { "@container": "@set" }, "inScheme": { "@container": "@set" }, "topConceptOf": { "@container": "@set" }, "deprecated": { "@id": "owl:deprecated", "@type": "xsd:boolean" }, "isReplacedBy": { "@id": "dct:isReplacedBy", "@container": "@set" } } }