10 Seemingly Harmless Things You Didn't Realise Killed People

8. Wind Turbines

To be absolutely fair, a wind turbine at full throttle does not look entirely innocuous. When you get up close and listen to their unholy banshee 'whirring' it can be slightly unnerving. That said you do not necessarily expect that the one you happen to be passing will kill you and I've even heard some odd souls refer to them as being beautiful. It is with regret I report that the numbers tell a different story. According to figures* collected on the subject there were 151 accidents involving wind turbines in the UK alone, of which 3 proved fatal during 2013. Even the body collecting the figures believes that this represents only a tip of the wind farm accident iceberg, since a lot of incidents do not get reported. Taken collectively the figures from around the world are much greater. The trend for accidents is ever upward, for blindingly obvious reasons when you think about it. More and more turbines are being built as governments struggle to meet their Kyoto and other targets on global warming, thus increasing the sheer numbers of windmills throughout the world. Additionally, pre-1997 only figures on fatal accidents were collected and now that better reporting is happening we are finding out more about what is really going on. So, how do these magnificent monuments to progress cause harm? In various ways, but the biggest numbers of accidents are caused by blade failure. Ouch! This probably explains why there are actually often more fatalities recorded than there were accidents. It can take just one statistical wind turbine blade failure to cause more than one fatality. 17 bus passengers were killed in a single incident in Brazil in March, 2012. The second biggest cause was fire, if you were wondering. That and improper maintenance, that is. Structural failure is next, with 'ice throw' coming after that. Some governments are beginning to recognise the major risks attached to them and recommend that none should be placed within 2km of a house. I suppose it's the fact that these things occupy land right next to us that's puts them into the category of seemingly harmless. They are familiar fixtures in the countryside nowadays, so have become comfortably familiar to us. Moreover, they're there to help us survive, surely? Not wipe us all out like some alien attack by walking war machines from Mars, 'War of the Worlds' style. -- *Caithness Windfarm Information Forum: www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk