Hazards, Disasters And Your Community - United Nations ...

and fireplaces should be used with caution.
2. Cooking accidents are a major cause of home fires and cause us a lot of concern. Fires can result due to
unattended cooking or due to mechanical failure of the stove or any cooking equipment.
3. Electrical wiring can cause a fire if it is not large enough to carry the load being supplied. Overheating of
electrical appliances, poor wiring connections, use of unauthorized appliances, multi-point adaptors can result in
fires starting.
4. Rubbish and Waste Materials that are left to accumulate can easily contribute to the spread of fire; they are also
a place for malicious fires to be started. Make sure that you remove all waste materials from the workplace on a
regular basis and place them in a suitable container located in a safe position outside the building premises. Do not
burn rubbish on bonfire, even if it is thought safe to do so. They can easily get out of control and spread fire to
nearby buildings or structures.
5. Combustible Materials such as packing materials, glues, solvents, flammable liquids or gases stored in work
place can be extremely dangerous. It is recommended to store materials both in terms of required quantity and in a
secure area outside the premises.
6. Hazardous Materials such as paints, solvents, adhesive, chemicals or gas cylinders should be kept in separate
storage areas and well away from any sources of ignition.
7. Arson and Deliberate Fire Setting is also a cause.
8. Smoking is also a major cause of fire.
WEB RESOURCES
www.ifeindia.org; www.fire-wind.net;
T R A N S P O R T A C C I D E N T S
Source: www.kingoftheroad.com
Road network is laid for better connectivity
and service but at the same time the number
of accidents is also on the rise. The main
causes are the violation of traffic regulations,
speeding, drunk driving and poor
maintenance of the vehicle and the roads. All
these reasons add to the rising number of
accidents and road fatalities.
India has one of the highest accident rates in
the world. Every year more than 300.000
accidents are reported. Fatality rate is as
high as 60,000. Studies on accidents, the
world over, have shown that the human
factor is responsible for a majority of
accidents.
Source: wwcw.the-week.com
Many factors govern the safety of
passenger in an aircraft. It include
technical problems, fire, landing and
take off conditions, the environment an
airline operates in (mountainous
terrain or frequent storms), factors like
airport security in cases of hijackings,
bombing attempts etc.
The most common types of rail
accident are derailment due to lack
of maintenance, aging
infrastructure, collateral hazards
(ground shaking during an
earthquake, rock fall on tracks after
a landslide etc causing damage to
railway tracks) human error or
sabotage. Various type of
In India, vehicle users are the causative
dangerous cargo are also
factor, in 70% of the road accidents.
transported such as fuel oil
Pedestrians are responsible for 4.1% of the
products, etc.
road accidents and poor condition of the
In the picture, bogies of the derailed
“ t o w a r d s Bangalore s aExpress f e lying r on I the N D I A ” 50
roads accounts for about 0.4% of the
accidents. It is evident, that nearly 80% of
the accidents occur due to bad driving habits
and human error.
tracks near Pendakal station, 250
km south of Hyderabad, on Dec 21
2002. 20 persons were killed and