*The first major phosgene-related incident happened in May 1928 when eleven tons of phosgene escaped from a war surplus store in central Hamburg. Three hundred people were poisoned, of whom ten died.
*In the second half of 20th century several fatal incidents implicating phosgene occurred in Europe, Asia and the US. Most of them have been investigated by authorities and the outcome made accessible to the public. For example, phosgene was initially blamed for the Bhopal disaster, but investigations proved methyl isocyanate to be responsible for the numerous poisonings and fatalities.
* Recent major incidents happened in January 2010 and May 2016. An accidental release of phosgene gas at a DuPont facility in West Virginia killed one employee in 2010. The US Chemical Safety Board released a video detailing the accident. Six years later, a phosgene leak occurred in a BASF plant in South Korea, where a contractor inhaled a lethal dose of phosgene.
*2023 Ohio train derailment: A freight train carrying vinyl chloride derailed and burned in East Palestine, Ohio, releasing phosgene and hydrogen chloride into the air and contaminating the Ohio River.