Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
factors. The Normal Accident Theory argues that the combination of high com-
plexity and tight coupling must lead to failures. According to this theory, that has
been integrated, empirically tested and veri
ed,
technological accidents are
“
inevitable and happen all of the time; serious ones are inevitable but infrequent;
catastrophes are inevitable but extremely rare
.
3
Since the mid-1980s, starting with an approach opposite to that of the Normal
Accident Theory, some researchers developed the High Reliability Theory, which
says that is possible to create highly reliable systems capable of ensuring almost
absolute security levels.
The science that deals with the study and prevention of disasters is called dis-
astrology. Born at the beginning of the twentieth century but developed especially
from the second post-war period, this discipline relies on the contribution of different
specialists: physicists, geologists, geographers, planners, engineers, sociologists,
psychologists, historians. In the 1980s it was developed a sort of new branch of this
discipline, the kindunology (from the Greek kindunos that means
”
). This
science is focused on the study of methods and means to know, understand, assess,
classify and represent different aspects of hazards and disasters.
A catastrophe (from the Latin cat
“
hazard
”
à
“
strofa and the ancient Greek katastroph
ē
,
to
) is a large harmful event with great and irreversible consequences.
4
According to some classi
”
overturn
cations the principal catastrophic risks can be divided into
four homogeneous classes. The rst class catastrophic risks consist of natural
catastrophes (such as pandemics and asteroids) that are not directly determined by
technology or human labor. The second class consists of scienti
c risks as
“
laboratory
or other scienti
c accidents involving particle accelerators, nanotechnology [
…
] and
arti
rst class risks these catastrophic risks are
directly caused by technology. The third class consists of unintentional man-made
catastrophes that determine phenomena such as
cial intelligence
”
. Instead of the
“
exhaustion of natural resources
”
,
“
global warming
”
or
“
loss of biodiversity
”
. Finally, the fourth class of catastrophic
risks consists of intentional or
“
deliberately, perpetrated
”
catastrophes such as
“
nuclear winter, bioweaponry, cyberterrorism and digital means of surveillance and
encryption
. Even though they are determined by the use of technology, these are
warfare risks that can be considered intentional acts of violence and not accidental.
According to the International Society for Environmental Protection classi
”
ca-
tion, hazards are physical or chemical agents capable of causing harm to persons,
property, animals, plants or other natural resources. Technological accidents are the
potential consequence of one of that events and are caused by technical, social,
organizational or operational failures ranging from minor accidents (i.e. single toxic
agents) to major accident (industrial, chemical or nuclear accidents). Some other
observers consider technological accidents in a more strict sense as
accidental
failures of design or management relating to large-scale structures, transport sys-
tems or industrial processes that may cause the loss of life, injury, property or
“
3
Perrow (
1984
).
4
Walter (
2008
).
