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When used in risk research, a major accident is an accident with large and even catastrophic consequences. During the previous decades, a number of major accidents have made the public increasingly aware of the risk posed by certain technical systems and activities. A common denominator of these is that they not only have immediate effects in terms of loss of life, environmental damage, or economical effects but also long‐term effects by changing the public's and the authorities' attitudes toward the systems that have been involved in the accidents. A result of this is that changes in regulations often are made after major accidents. For companies involved, the consequences of these accidents not only incur enormous costs but may even force a company out of business and seriously damage the image of an entire industry. Examples of some past accidents with far‐reaching effects are listed in Table 1.1 . These accidents are representative of a large number of accidents that have served to remind us that safety can never be taken for granted. Macza (2008) discusses several of these accidents and the society's response to each accident with respect to legislation changes and other actions.

Table 1.1 Some past major accidents.

Location of accident	Year	Consequences
North Atlantic	1912	Titanic colliding with an iceberg and sinking, 1500 killed.
Flixborough, UK	1974	Explosion and fire, 28 killed, more than 100 injured.
Seveso, Italy	1976	Dioxin release, 2000 poisoned, contamination of environment, mass evacuation.
North Sea, Norway	1977	Oil/gas blowout on Bravo platform, pollution of sea.
Three Mile Island, USA	1979	Nuclear accident. Limited actual consequences, but had potential for a major release of radiation.
Bhopal, India	1984	Release of toxic gas (MIC), 3800 killed, 500 000 exposed to gas.
Mexico City, Mexico	1984	Explosion and fire at LPG storage and distribution depot at San Juan Ixhautepec. Around 500 killed.
USA	1986	Explosion of Challenger space shuttle, 7 killed.
Chernobyl, Ukraine	1986	Explosion and atomic fallout at nuclear power station.
Basel, Switzerland	1986	Fire at Sandoz warehouse. Rhine River contaminated, severe environmental damage.
Zeebrügge, Belgium	1987	The car and passenger ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized, 193 killed.
North Sea, UK	1988	Explosion and fire on the Piper Alpha platform. Platform lost, 167 killed.
Alaska, USA	1989	Oil spill from tanker Exxon Valdez. Severe environmental damage.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands	1992	Boeing 747 cargo plane crashed near Schipol Airport, 43 killed.
Baltic Sea	1994	The car and passenger ferry Estonia capsized, claiming 852 lives.
Eschede, Germany	1998	High‐speed train derailed, 101 killed, 88 injured.
Longford Australia	1998	Explosion and fire, 2 killed, Melbourne without gas for 19 days.
Bretagne, France	1999	Loss of tanker Erika. Major oil spill.
Enschede, The Netherlands	2000	Explosion in fireworks plant. 22 killed, 1000 injured, more than 300 homes destroyed.
Toulouse, France	2001	Explosion and fire in fertilizer plant, 30 killed, 2000 injured, 600 homes destroyed.
Galicia, Spain	2002	Loss of tanker Prestige, major oil spill.
Texas City, USA	2005	Explosion and fire, 15 killed, 180 injured.
Hertfordshire, UK	2005	Explosion and fire at Buncefield Depot.
Gulf of Mexico	2010	Blowout and explosion on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, 11 killed, 17 injured, rig lost, major oil spill.
Fukushima Daiichi, Japan	2011	Release of radioactive material with widespread contamination.
Giglio, Italy	2012	Cruise ship Costa Concordia capsized, 32 killed.
Indonesia/Ethiopia	2018/2019	Two crashes with Boeing 737 MAX, with 189 and 157 fatalities, respectively.

Many books give overviews of major accidents (Kletz 2001 ; Mannan 2012) and investigation reports are often published. In some cases, scientific books are also written about major accidents (e.g. see Hopkins 2000 ; Vaughan 1996).