SEVESO DISASTER

SEVESO DISASTER

In the lcmesa Chemical Co., at Seveso in North Italy, on 10-07-1976 at.-~-30 am, a reactor safety valve vented to the atmosphere, 2,3,7,8 -Tetra Chloro Dibenzo para Dioxiir(TCDD) a toxic gas. It's cloud drifted over the adjacent town and came down to earth because of heavy rain. The management tried to inform the local community but they had a communication problem. Key people in the local authority could not (  be reached due to weekend and they were on holiday. When they were finally alerted and began to take action, they didn't know what to do. Some 250 people were to be evacuated. Visible casualty were not numerous but the toxic contamination of the area was not cleared even after the expenditure of some US$ 200 million.

 This Seveso accident proved a landmark for the chemical industries world-wide. Then after, the release of toxic chemicals into the river Rhine from Sandoz warehouse at Berne in Switzerland was demonstrated dramatically. This issue was taken up by the ECC and after protracted deliberation, the so-called Seveso Directive(Control Of Industrial Major Accident Hazards Regulation) was issued in 1984 and duly ratified by the member governments.

 The extreme toxicity of TCDD and other Dioxins was known before Seveso but didn't received publicity till then.

This accident makes it clear that the manufacturers should not be reluctant to publicise what they are doing and assess their process very carefully to ensure that there are no similar hidden hazards.