Génie Chimique

Technological and industrial risks can arise from human factors such as operational errors, lack of maintenance or oversight, continuity of ownership or investment.  They can also be the result of natural events such as earthquakes, floods and strong storms. This can happen in several ways: natural events can trigger damage, extreme pressures and temperatures leading to facility failures; and extreme natural events can also spread accidental and significant pollution caused by industrial accidents across national borders faster and further than under "normal" conditions, through strong winds, floods or tsunamis . 

Accidents can range from interruptions and technical failures to hazardous substance spills, fire, explosions, mine tailings dam failures, among other things.

Examples of past  events with wide-ranging impacts are:

• The Baia Mare and Baia Borsa accidents in Romania in 2000, with overflows of mine tailings dams caused by extreme snow fall combined with exceptionally high temperatures resulting in peak discharges, in addition to other technical failures. Notably the Baia Mare accidents caused wide-spread transboundary water pollution of the Danube, through Romania into Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria, finally entering the Black Sea.
• The explosions at a chemical plant following Hurricane Harvey in Texas in the United States, 2017, and the unexpectedly high water levels it provoked.
• A tailings dam breach of a gold mine in Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation in 2019, following days of heavy rainfall, leading to wide-spread water pollution in the Seiba river – reported in the BBC news. The 2020 Norilsk diesel oil spill occurred in the same region, and reportedly resulted partially from consequences of permafrost thaw.
• The Fukushima Daiichi power plant accident following the 2011 tsunami - a well-known example of a Natech accident - while nuclear energy facilities are not covered by the Industrial Accidents Convention.