Despite the objectively horrible time these folks had, as the saying goes, there is always a bigger fish, or in this case, workplace disaster. For example, bringing dads to their knees across the globe, the London Beer Flood of 1814, when a number of huge wooden vats for fermenting porter broke, caused a chain reaction that flooded the neighborhood. 

When the vat broke, the deluge of liquid slammed into other vats, breaking them and adding to the “avalanche” of beer. Between 580,000 and 1,470,000 liters of beer smashed through the brewery walls and cascaded through the neighborhood. 

Like something out of a hybrid of a disaster movie and comedy, a 15-foot (4.6 m) wave of beer rushed through the area, demolishing two houses and leading to eight deaths. As the area had very poor drainage, much of the beer ended up in the basements of nearby buildings, which at the time were often inhabited. 

While later accounts state that mass drinking followed, the papers at the time made no such reports. Similarly, the beer would have been so diluted and dirty as to not really be drinkable at all. However, there are verified accounts of watchmen charging people to go and see the ruins and burst vats. 

The only upside of the disaster is that it did spark some changes in how breweries operate. After the London Beer Flood, breweries started to use vessels lined with concrete, to ensure that something similar does not happen again. The company itself continued to operate until 1961, relatively unphased by the chaos. 

A recent equivalent was the Pepsi fruit juice flood, in 2017, which occurred in Lebedyan, Russia. The roof of a PepsiCo warehouse collapsed, sending over 28 million liters (7.4 million US gallons) flooding through the streets and into the Don River. Luckily, there were no casualties, and studies of the river reported no major environmental impact, although one must imagine that the streets had to be sticky for a while. 

However, the vast majority of us will not be impacted by disasters at this scale. First and foremost, they simply do not happen that often, as there are tens of thousands of factories, mills, and breweries around the globe that do not explode. Similarly, safety regulations, on the whole, tend to improve from one disaster to the next. 

So while most of us won’t be anywhere near an accidental explosion, there still are a number of common workplace risks to be on the lookout for. According to UK-based law firm, Waldrons, most of the time, people simply slip, fall, or sprain something while just going about their day. Let's face it, who among us hasn’t twisted an ankle in a pothole or tripped on a carpet? 

Other “usual suspects” are repetitive strain injuries, where a certain, common, workplace action over time causes some injury or pain to a worker. This can range from simply typing too much to lifting loads that are just too heavy. While there are techniques that employees can use to minimize risk, some unscrupulous businesses will demand that workers work a certain way. 

Loud noises are another constant in many lines of work, and employees should demand ear protection at certain levels of volume. Even if the sound seems reasonable, long-term exposure to loud noises puts the person at risk of tinnitus and even catastrophic hearing loss later in life, which often can be avoided.