ANALYSIS OF RESPONSE TO A TRAFFIC ACCIDENT INVOLVING A GAS-FILLED TANKER ON 6 DECEMBER 1999 NEAR ČRNI KAL

Abstract

Accidents with hazardous substances have become a constant occurrence in Slovenia, as not a single day seems to pass without the media reporting on such an event. Obviously all accidents are not equally resounding and tend to be shown in different lights, whether they are traffic accidents involving hazardous substances, pollution of rivers, streams and the sea, or production process-related accidents with hazardous substances. The major or minor significance attributed to an accident depends mainly on the judgment of individuals dealing with such accidents. It is, however, an indisputable fact that the response of professional services and individuals to such occurrences is always carefully observed by experts and the general public, which tend to, foundedly or unfoundedly, comment on, assess and judge their performance. This was quite characteristically demonstrated after the traffic accident involving a hazardous substance that occurred on 6 December, 1999 near Črni Kal (Municipality of Koper).