Industrial Accidents
Accidents caused while working with dangerous substances are industrial accidents
Industrial accidents are caused due to an uncontrolled chain of events in industrial technological processes, transportation or storage of dangerous substances, etc.Dangerous substances can be raw materials, products, by-products, residue or intermediate products, including substances for which it may be reasonably assumed that they will be produced in case of an accident and which have adverse consequences for human health, material and cultural assets and the environment.
Before an accident:
- Learn about the measures and safety and security plans established for a certain area or vehicle (residential premises, outdoor areas, public transportation vehicles, sports facilities, shopping centres, film theatres, schools, clubs, etc.). This will help you more easily deal with situations in which you might be exposed to danger as well as to know how to act in the area in which you find yourself, considering the actual conditions there (infrastructure, equipment, life-saving appliances, emergency services, response time, etc.) and the event endangering your safety.
- If you live near an industrial plant, obtain information about the assessed risk of accidents and plans of action in your unit of local or regional self-government.
- It is very important to have access to the media to be able to follow the instructions of the competent institutions about specific safety measures, as well as any other useful information which can help you prevent or mitigate any potential consequences, so keep this in mind.
- Learn about the meaning of different warning signals, which are checked on the first Saturday of every month at noon.
- If you have taken the recommended preventative measures in due time, the consequences will be minimized as compared to the most disastrous consequences possible.
- If you are outdoors when a public siren sounds, find a shelter immediately, quickly and without panicking and then obtain information and instructions from the available media or by calling 112.
- Also, if you are a witness of such an emergency, call 112 and provide all the information available which will help the emergency services to react.
- Act in accordance with the instructions you previously received from the competent institutions, as well as those instructions you received during the accident, which will be adapted to the accident at hand and thus more specific.
- Implement all of the recommended measures to best protect yourself, your family members and any other persons in the area of the accident, which will, in turn, help mitigate the consequences to the health and lives of people and the damage to property and the environment.
- If you are in immediate vicinity of a dangerous substance/chemical which is leaking, do not step in it and do not touch any contaminated items.
- If you are in the area under a contaminated cloud, do not eat, drink or smoke and protect your respiratory system and any exposed skin with a wet handkerchief/fabric, take short breaths and leave the contaminated area as soon as possible.
- If you are in a vehicle near the accident site, immediately close the windows, turn off the ventilation system and drive away as far as possible from the accident site.
- Avoid tunnels as the dangerous substance concentration can be higher there.
- If you are in a building located near the accident site and the wind is also blowing in that direction, evacuate from the dangerous area immediately, avoiding the direction in which the wind is blowing. If you did not manage to evacuate immediately after the accident occurred, stay indoors, tightly close all windows, doors and vents, turn off the lights, gas and water, ventilators and HVAC systems, pick the room with the smallest number of windows and doors and hermetically close it with those things you have at your disposal (put adhesive tape or moistened towels, aluminium foil and similar items on the window/door frames and vents) and follow the competent institutions’ instructions.
- If you come into contact with a dangerous substance/chemical, decontamination needs to be carried out in accordance with the previously received instructions, and the person with you might need first aid.
- If you need medical treatment—whether immediately, after self-evacuation or organised evacuation—call 112 or contact your physician, who will then evaluate whether you need further treatment.
- Continually follow the advice of competent services and persons via the media!
- Do not unnecessarily use public roads; free them up for vehicles of emergency and other services.
- In case of clear adverse effects on you or the environment, call 112 to inform the emergency services of the accident and its consequences and free up the line as soon as possible for operative needs of coordination of measures and activities of the civil protection system.