Industrial disasters are caused by chemical, mechanical, civil, electrical, or other processes. The failure caused by an accident, negligence, or incompetence at an industrial plant can spread to areas inside or outside the plant, cause loss of life and property, and harm the environment.

Oil Spills

• Oil spill refers to any uncontrolled release of crude oil, gasoline, fuel, or other oil by-products into the atmosphere. Oil spills can contaminate land, air, or water.
• Due to the oil spill, the industrial plant, its employees, workers, residents living in nearby settlements, etc., are at the highest risk. 
• It also impacts tourism, fishing, other economic activities like water sports and cultural activities of the region.
• The oil spill may primarily be due to the following reasons:
  • Human errors or carelessness
  • Technical errors
  • Management errors
  • Deliberate actions by terrorists, war-torn countries, vandalism, or illegal dumpers

Impact of Oil Spills

Oil spills exhibit one of the most complicated and dynamic pollutant distribution and effect patterns in the maritime environment. In some ways, each spill is one-of-a-kind and unrepeatable due to the almost infinite potential combinations of natural and artificial elements at a particular site and time. This presents a hurdle that affects crude oil dispersion modelling, not to mention developing quantitative forecasts of the environmental repercussions of spills. At the same time, scientists have conducted research on field observations of oil behaviour and the ecological risks of oil spills in maritime places throughout the globe during the last few decades. These studies give a solid foundation for calculating the harmful effect of oil spills on the marine environment and living resources.

Methods to clean oil spills

• Oil booms-floating barriers called booms are used to stop the spreading of oil that could be retrieved.
• Skimmers are used to retrieve oil by separating them from water physically.
• Sorbents are used to absorb oil from the surface, e.g., volcanic ash.
• Vacuum trucks are operated to vacuum oil spilled off the coast or underwater.
• Chemical surfactants can be used to dissociate oil into smaller particles to accelerate their dispersion.
• Biological agents such as microorganisms are used to speed up natural biodegradation.
• Burning freshly spilled oil or in situ burning is another method.
• Washing oil from beaches with low-pressure or high-pressure hoses
• Shovels and road equipment are sometimes used to take oil or to carry down oily beach sand and gravel where they can be cleaned by tangling in the waves.

Case Study- Chennai oil spill accident:

• A big oil spill hit Chennai on January 28th, 2017. The spill occurred when two container ships collided about two miles off the coast of Chennai. Approximately 75 metric tonnes of heavy fuel oil were spilled into the Bay of Bengal as a result of the accident.
• A substantial amount of oil was trapped in the relatively stagnant zone near the seawall-groin inter-section. The initial clean-up efforts focused on manual methods to skim the trapped oil, and these efforts were successful in recovering a considerable amount of oil.
• The INCOIS report had mentioned that the spillage had polluted 24.06 km of the city’s shoreline.

Conclusion

Oil spills closer to the beach, and human populations have higher ecological and economic consequences. Oil spills and oil-related pollutants have harmed the land, water, and air quality for decades, threatening the extinction of living things. The majority of environmental dangers in the country’s oil area result from oil spills, gas flaring, and oil pollution. Human mistakes, theft, accidents, and operational expulsions of petroleum hydrocarbons into the environment are common causes. 

Environmental hazards hinder the maximal functioning of plants and animals, resulting in ecological conditions that are incompatible with a healthy existence. This chapter looked at the repercussions of oil spills on the environment and people’s economic activities and their influence on growth and development.