Case Studies

Case Study: Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1983-84)

Posted by WMM1942 on September 4, 2018 at 5:34pm

Dr. Rhyddhi Chakraborty Programme Leader (Health and Social Care), London Churchill College, UK Email: rchak2012@gmail.com

What follows is a synopsis of the full article found in featured articles.

Please read the featured article Lesson from Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1983-84) By Dr. Rhyddhi Chakraborty Programme Leader (Health and Social Care), London Churchill College, UK describes in detail the elements of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Background

Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL)

In 1970, in the North adjacent to the slums and railway station, a pesticide plant was set up by Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL). From late 1977, the plant started manufacturing Sevin (Carbaryl) by importing primary raw materials, viz. alpha-naphtol and methyl isocyanate (MIC) in stainless steel drums from the Union Carbide's MIC plant in USA. However, from early 1980, the Bhopal plant itself started manufacturing MIC using the know-how and basic designs supplied by Union Carbide Corporation, USA (UCC). The Bhopal UCIL facility housed three underground 68,000 liters liquid MIC storage tanks: E610, E611, and E619 and were claimed to ensure all safety from leakage.

Time Line of Occupational Hazards of the Union Carbide India Limited Plant Leading Before the Disaster

• 1976: Local trade unions complained of pollution within the plant.
• 1980: A worker was reported to have accidentally been splashed with phosgene while carrying out a regular maintenance job of the plant's pipes.
• 1982 (January): A phosgene leak exposed 24 workers, all of whom were admitted to a hospital. Investigation revealed that none of the workers had been ordered to wear protective masks.
• 1982 (February): An MIC leak affected 18 workers.
• 1982 (August): A chemical engineer came into contact with liquid MIC, resulting in burns over 30 percent of his body.
• 1982 (October): In attempting to stop the leak, the MIC supervisor suffered severe chemical burns and two other workers were severely exposed to the gases.
• 1983-1984: There were leaks of MIC, chlorine, monomethylamine, phosgene, and carbon tetrachloride, sometimes in combination.

In early December 1984, most of the Bhopal plant's MIC related safety systems were not functioning and many valves and lines were in poor condition. In addition, several vent gas scrubbers had been out of service as well as the steam boiler, intended to clean the pipes. For the major maintenance work, the MIC production and Sevin were stalled in Bhopal plant since Oct. 22, 1984 and major regular maintenance was ordered to be done during the weekdays’ day shifts.

The Sevin plant, after having been shut down for some time, had been started up again during November but was still running at far below normal capacity. To make the pesticide, carbon tetrachloride is mixed with methyl isocyanate (MIC) and alpha-naphthol, a coffee-colored powder that smells like mothballs. The methyl isocyanate, or MIC, was stored in the three partly buried tanks, each with a 15,000-gallon capacity.

During the late evening hours of December 2, 1984, whilst trying to unclog, water was believed to have entered a side pipe and into Tank E610 containing 42 tons of MIC that had been there since late October. Introduction of water into the tank began a runaway exothermic reaction, which was accelerated by contaminants, high ambient temperatures and other factors, such as the presence of iron from corroding non-stainless steel pipelines.

A Three Hour Time Line of the Disaster

December 3, 1984 12:40 am: A worker, while investigating a leak, stood on a concrete slab above three large, partly buried storage tanks holding the chemical MIC. The slab suddenly began to vibrate beneath him and he witnessed at least a 6 inche thick crack on the slab and heard a loud hissing sound. As he prepared to escape from the leaking gas, he saw gas shoot out of a tall stack connected to the tank, forming a white cloud that drifted over the plant and toward nearby neighborhoods where thousands of residents were sleeping. In short span of time, the leak went out of control.

December 3, 1984 12:45 am: The workers were aware of the enormity of the accident. They began to panic both because of the choking fumes, they said, and because of their realization that things were out of control; the concrete over the tanks cracked as MIC turned from liquid to gas and shot out the stack, forming a white cloud. Part of it hung over the factory, the rest began to drift toward the sleeping neighborhoods nearby.

December 3, 1984 12:50 am: The public siren briefly sounded and was quickly turned off, as per company procedure meant to avoid alarming the public around the factory over tiny leaks. Workers, meanwhile, evacuated the UCIL plant. The control room operator then turned on the vent gas scrubber, a device designed to neutralize escaping toxic gas. The scrubber had been under maintenance; the flow meter indicated there was no caustic soda flowing into the device. It was not clear to him whether there was actually no caustic soda in the system or whether the meter was broken. Broken gauges were not unusual at the factory. In fact, the gas was not being neutralized but was shooting out the vent scrubber stack and settling over the plant.

December 3, 1984 1: 15- 1:30 am: At Bhopal’s 1,200-bed Hamidia Hospital, the first patient with eye trouble reported. Within five minutes, there were a thousand patients. Calls to the UCIL plant by police were twice assured that "everything is OK", and on the last attempt made, "we don't know what has happened, sir". In the plant, meanwhile, MIC began to engulf the control room and the adjoining offices.

December 3, 1984 3:00 am: The factory manager, arrived at the plant and sent a man to tell the police about the accident because the phones were out of order. The police were not told earlier because the company management had an informal policy of not involving the local authorities in gas leaks. Meanwhile, people were dying by the hundreds outside the factory. Some died in their sleep. Others ran into the cloud, breathing in more and more gas and dropping dead in their tracks.

Immediate Consequences

With the lack of timely information exchange between Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) and Bhopal authorities, the city's Hamidia Hospital was first told that the gas leak was suspected to be ammonia, then phosgene. They were then told that it was methyl isocyanate (MIC), which hospital staff had never heard of, had no antidote for, and received no immediate information about. The gas cloud, composed mainly of materials denser than air, stayed close to the ground and spread in the southeasterly direction affecting the nearby communities. Most city residents who were exposed to the MIC gas were first made aware of the leak by exposure to the gas itself.

Subsequent Actions

Formal statements were issued that air, water, vegetation and foodstuffs were safe, but warned not to consume fish. The number of children exposed to the gases was at least 200,000. Within weeks, the State Government established a number of hospitals, clinics and mobile units in the gas-affected area to treat the victims.

Legal proceedings involving UCC, the United States and Indian governments, local Bhopal authorities, and the disaster victims started immediately after the catastrophe. The Indian Government passed the Bhopal Gas Leak Act in March 1985, allowing the Government of India to act as the legal representative for victims of the disaster, leading to the beginning of legal proceedings.

Initial lawsuits were generated in the United States federal court system in April 1985. Eventually, in an out-of-court settlement reached in February 1989, Union Carbide agreed to pay US$470 million for damages caused in the Bhopal disaster. The amount was immediately paid.

Post-settlement activity

UCC chairman and CEO Warren Anderson was arrested and released on bail by the Madhya Pradesh Police in Bhopal on 7 December 1984. Anderson was taken to UCC's house after which he was released six hours later on $2,100 bail and flown out on a government plane. Anderson, eight other executives and two company affiliates with homicide charges were required to appear in Indian court.

In response, Union Carbide said the company is not under Indian jurisdiction. In 1991, the local Bhopal authorities charged Anderson, who had retired in 1986, with manslaughter, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. He was declared a fugitive from justice by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal on 1 February 1992 for failing to appear at the court hearings in a culpable homicide case in which he was named the chief defendant. Orders were passed to the Government of India to press for an extradition from the United States. From 2014, Dow is a named respondent in a number of ongoing cases arising from Union Carbide’s business in Bhopal.

A US Federal class action litigation, Sahu v. Union Carbide and Warren Anderson, had been filed in 1999 under the U.S. Alien Torts Claims Act (ATCA), which provides for civil remedies for "crimes against humanity." It sought damages for personal injury, medical monitoring and injunctive relief in the form of clean-up of the drinking water supplies for residential areas near the Bhopal plant. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2012 and subsequent appeal denied. Anderson died in 2014.

Long-term Health Effects

A total of 36 wards were marked by the authorities as being "gas affected," affecting a population of 520,000. Of these, 200,000 were below 15 years of age, and 3,000 were pregnant women. The official immediate death toll was 2,259, and in 1991, 3,928 deaths had been officially certified. The government of Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. Later, the affected area was expanded to include 700,000 citizens. A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused 558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.

Ethical Negligence

The Corporate Negligence Argument: This point of view argues that management (and to some extent, local government) underinvested in safety, which allowed for a dangerous working environment to develop.

Safety audits: In September 1984, an internal UCC report on the West Virginia plant in the USA revealed a number of defects and malfunctions. It warned that "a runaway reaction could occur in the MIC unit storage tanks, and that the planned response would not be timely or effective enough to prevent catastrophic failure of the tanks". This report was never forwarded to the Bhopal plant, although the main design was the same.

The Disgruntled Employee Sabotage Argument: Now owned by Dow Chemical Company, Union Carbide maintains a website dedicated to the tragedy and claims that the incident was the result of sabotage, stating that sufficient safety systems were in place and operative to prevent the intrusion of water.

-------------------- 

As you read and analyze this case study, your reflective comments are requested on all of the following:

  • Who are the stakeholders and how are they impacted both positively and negatively?
  • What knowledge and skills are needed to implement sophisticated, appropriate, and workable solutions to the complex global problems facing the world today?
  • What interdisciplinary perspectives would help identify innovative and non-obvious solutions?
  • What insights can you articulate, based on your culture and other cultures with which you are familiar, to help understand your worldview and enable greater civic engagement?
  • What is your position on the right thing(s) to do?

    After you submit your comment, please view and evaluate the feedback to your response that is automatically provided on the screen.

    Also, please take a moment to submit a comment on someone else's comment.
E-mail me when people leave their comments –
Follow

You need to be a member of The Ethical Engineer to add comments!

Comments

  • ssbt_yen October 29, 2020 at 1:01am
    The Bhopal gas tragedy is one of the most horrific, unexpected, and hazardous occurrences that took place in the 1980s. This incident was the consequence of negligence and lack of ethics by the NSPE. UCC and UCIL needed skilled and experienced workers which they lacked since they dealt with toxic chemicals. Lack of interdisciplinary aspects and a good management team is behind this incident. It's a huge task to manufacture MIC which requires certain safety measures but their negligence and ignorance failed to do so. Actions need to be taken immediately. Toxic chemicals and gas needs proper knowledge and skill to maintain its storage and usage. The blame comes down to the government and that's very obvious because they were ignorant about the monitoring of the plant. Even the workers weren't safe as they didn't have proper safety equipment. Before thinking of anything to built at the national or international level, there needs to be proper planning, setup, and execution process. With all these, there comes certain pros and cons and one should keep in mind about the safety measures and also avoid any casualties. Ethics and moral plays a very important part. UCIL was reluctant to take the proper step immediately.
  • ss.blahblah@whatever.com October 29, 2020 at 12:44am
    The Bhopal gas tragedy is indeed one of the most horrific human made disaster observed in last few decades. It could easily be compared to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, if not in terms of the causality but defiantly in terms of human negligence. Both has a great parallel, caused by the ignorance of the staff and other higher authority of the plant. Not following the guidelines and safety standards were the cause. Ironically the stakeholders weather the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) or the local government who were generating huge revenues did not care about the safety. Although those standards were followed in their other plants but were ignored in this case. Even when the tragedy took so many lives and destroyed many others the compensation was not adequate. This also signifies that the corporates treat their employees merely as an asset which could be easily replaced. USD 240 million was a mockery for the lives of people lost. Additionally the bail amount of $ 2100 signifies the incapability of the law to punish the offenders. Even the CEO Anderson was flown out of the country on government plain. Clearly the government lack the morale and failed to take a correct stand. The company also lacked on their part to uphold the corporate social responsibility. It is thus the need of the hour for not only the corporate to take their responsibility but also the local government to strictly monitor the situation. The staff of such companies should be provided with adequate protection gears and insurance in case of such tragedy. The laws must also be implemented strictly. In conclusion it should be the collaboration of the higher authority, staff and the local government.
  • jtssbt October 29, 2020 at 12:27am
    The disastrous events in the UCIL factory in Bhopal revealed us the catastrophic consequences of industrialization in developing countries without concurrent evolution in safety standards . The important code of ethics i.e the safety , health and welfare of the public were completely neglected . The poor quality of factory , lack of maintenance and basic safety equipment to reduce operational cost was the prime reason behind the tragedy . Also, the operation and approval of such factories dealing with toxic chemicals in public settlements is a serious ethical question to be raised .The unethical ways of operation of the UCIL can be highlighted by the malfunctioning of the vent scrubber , turning off the alarm and misinforming the public authorities about the leak . If only the alarm had been sounded and the authorities had been alerted on time , then the outcome could have been contained upto a certain extent. These unethical ways of operation have become a habit of big MNC's and implementing fines on them won't help because the damages and the generations of mutations cannot be accounted by any sum of money . This incident should serve as a lesson for the government and the public to stay aware of such factories and to check if the necessary safety regulations are in place or not .
  • SS SAYANI October 28, 2020 at 11:20pm
    The positives impacts experienced by the stakeholders,from 1980 Bhopal plant itself started manufacturing MIC which can be considered as savings on inputs of production, for major maintenance work Sevin was stalled in Bhopal plant. The subsequent actions taken of the goods to be consumed and safe and legal proceedings were started involving UCC,US and Indian government, local Bhopal authorities. The Indian government passed the Bhopal Gas Leak Act in March,1985 and Indian lawsuits were also generated in US federal court system and in out-of-court settlement reached confirmed US$470 to be paid by Union Carbide.

    The negatives impacts experienced, a worker was reported to have accidentally been splashed with phosgene leak exposed 24 workers as no one was wearing protective masks,an MIC leak affected 18 workers also chemical engineer was badly affected,the MIC supervisors suffered in attempting to stop the leak and there were leaks of MIC,chlorine, monomethylamine, phosgene, carbon tetrachloride, sometimes in combination, the consequences were very bad as hundreds were dying outside the factory,atleast 200,000 children got exposed to the gas the Sevin plant started up again at far below normal capacity,the police were not told earlier because of the company management informal policy of not involving the local authorities meanwhile people were dying and also there was lack of timely information between UCIL and Bhopal authorities.The long term health effects was quite huge in number.

    1.The knowledge and skills needed to implement sophisticated, appropriate and workable solutions to the complex global problems facing the world today skilled and trained labour, adequate training programmes for the employees before the implementation of work, adequate awareness about the safety amongst them,emergency guidelines should be properly communicated.

    2.The interdisciplinary perspectives that would help to identify innovative and non-obvious solutions is by remaining calm and not been in panic in such situations, proper checkups to the system, the steps to be taken during such instances should be communicated to the individuals priorly.

    3.Based on the culture, and other cultures the insights that can be articulated to understand the worldview and enable greater civic engagement is following normative ethics and the principle of utilitarianism that is to follow the pareto improvement decision,the plant should not have started far below normal capacity, huge contamination to the environment and any such consequences can be stopped by installing strict laws and not following the laws must be subject to compensation and in such circumstances what precautions needs to be taken, the public siren should not be turned off, no corporate negligence should be tolerated by government.

    4.My position on the right things to do, ensure the required safety mechanisms followed,regulation ensured and problems fixed, give importance to the team members and ensuring participative leadership style because before the disaster local trade unions complained of pollution but it was ignored, strengthening of laws is important because negligence of rules can be seen and the consequences too,compensations can be imposed in such circumstances,quick response mechanism to any incident occurring like there was no antidote for MIC, co-ordination mechanism.
  • ssbt_biotechguy October 28, 2020 at 3:39pm
    Bhopal gas tragedy still remains the worlds devastating industrial disaster ever. It saw 40 tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate gas released into the air, killing over 3,000 instantly and condemning hundreds of thousands to a future of prolonged pain, cancer, stillbirths, miscarriages, lung and heart disease and the drawn out deaths of everyone around them. The injustice suffered by the people of Bhopal remains stark and unrelenting. The situation is getting worse year by year and more and more second or third generation kids are born with disabilities. The data also suggests that the explosion has had a particularly adverse effect on women exposed to the gas, even as babies just days old, causing high rates of infertility, stillbirths, abortions, early menopause and wreaking havoc on menstrual cycles. Yet it is the lasting impact on the second and third generation, and on those yet unborn that haunts those in Bhopal the most. Activists allege that there has been a deliberate suppression by the Indian government of any research which proves the long term systemic or genetic damage caused by the gas explosion, to protect the corporations involved. From the very beginning the government is trying to protect the corporations involved at the cost if the innocent lives. The people are having a deteriorating life style day by day, the government hospitals and doctors even do not recognise the disabilities which are actually caused by the gas tragedy. It is never abput proper health care facility, medicines, people’s lives but it is all about money, politics and power. Everyday , every second the innocent people are suffering and are punished wherein the companies and the government have got away with doing nothing for around 35 years. A tsunami of grief engulfs all the houses, as mother, father, grandmother and grandfather all quietly sob regarding their offsprings who are born paralysed. Justice has indeed remained elusive for the victims of Bhopal. The Indian government has also been accused of working against the victims by kowtowing to corporate interests. Since the disaster, India has experienced rapid industrialization. While some positive changes in government policy and behavior of a few industries have taken place, major threats to the environment from rapid and poorly regulated industrial growth remain. Widespread environmental degradation with significant adverse human health consequences continues to occur throughout India. The tragedy of Bhopal continues to be a warning sign at once ignored and heeded. Bhopal and its aftermath were a warning that the path to industrialization, for developing countries in general and India in particular, is fraught with human, environmental and economic perils. The events in Bhopal revealed that expanding industrialization in developing countries without concurrent evolution in safety regulations could have catastrophic consequences. Enforceable uniform international operating regulations for hazardous industries would have provided a mechanism for significantly improved in safety in Bhopal. Even without enforcement, international standards could provide norms for measuring performance of individual companies engaged in hazardous activities such as the manufacture of pesticides and other toxic chemicals in India. Far more remains to be done for public health in the context of industrialization to show that the lessons of the countless thousands dead in Bhopal have truly been heeded.
  • Arjun_71 October 28, 2020 at 2:11pm
    The Bhopal Gas Strategy(1983-1984) is one of the most horrific catastrophic occurrence witnessed by the humankind in the past 100 years. The incident that took place was a negative consequence of sheer neglecting and carefree attitude towards one of the main codes of ethics laid down by the "NSPE" and that is to optimize the health, welfare and benefit of the humankind in every act of an engineering related innovation or task. The incident serves as an ideal example for highlighting the disastrous outcomes lack of attention and negligence can produce when it comes to an engineering related activity. It shows the unpredictable nature of the consequences. The stakeholders of this Gas Tragedy are the employees of the Union Carbide India Limited(UCIL), the employers/recruiters of the company, the clients of the company, the residents of the slum dwellings adjacent to the factory and all the flora and fauna surrounding the pesticide plant as the gas leak affects every living being catastrophically due to the hazardous nature of the fumes produced during the gas leak. Since the production of Sevin form 1977 and MIC( methyl isocyinate) in 1980, the plant has reported several and frequent hazardous gas leaks, some of them even leading to death. A phosgene leak in 1982 and a MIC leak in 1983 killed around 24 and 18 workers. Apart from the deaths, thousands of people and the flourishing flora and fauna surrounding the plant suffered form serious repercussions like detrimental health consequences or vandalization even though they weren't responsible for it. One positive impact it had upon the effected and those informed about it is that it created a sense of precaution and responsibility when tackling or being surrounded by hazardous equipment like 45000 gallons of MIC, chlorine, monomethylamine, phosgene, and carbon tetrachloride, sometimes in combination. It puts a spotlight on the moral learning that one should learn form their mistakes and in this case even those who just had to suffer from the consequences resulting from the negligence of someone else. Every employee working at the plant must offer some acceptable level of technical competence to work and add to the overall productivity of the factory. To do so they must meet some threshold requirement of academic distinction decided by the company and the Indian government jointly. There should be regular government regulated checks of the pipes and the MIC containers to ensure optimum safety for everyone and minimum safety requirements that cover the solutions of the worst case catastrophic damages. The workers must be given safety training and if possible simulation training to give them a hands on experience of what a gas leak would do and how to encounter it in the best possible manner. Coming up with a solution that combines the goal of an engineer's work to produce the most efficient and workable solutions by implementing its professional knowledge of its competitive field while keeping the idea of sustainable development on top priority will help generate environment friendly and disaster free solutions. lack of education, carelessness, taking undue advantage, neglecting safety measures and keeping profit oriented goals company's interest on top priority can all add up to negative consequences. The right thing to do is to ensure all the above acts are neglected and codes of ethics are prioritised while making a decision.
  • ssbtshivangi.phukan October 28, 2020 at 1:13pm
    Bhopal Gas Tragedy is one of the most tragic,unexpected and hazardous event to have occurred in the 1980s. This was an event that took place due to the mere negligence by the Corporate and the Government itself. To handle such big factories holding chemicals that are toxic require complete expertise and experience, which both UCC and UCIL lacked. The manufacturing of MIC was itself a huge task but they merely failed to ensure the safety protocols. Negligence and ignorance can be seen in this aspect as several vent gas scrubbers were mentioned to be out of service, and still the UCIL were oblivious of it. Lack of interdisciplinary aspects and team work can be a big reason behind such failure of manufacture. Proper knowledge and skills were needed for the maintenance and storage of such toxic fluids and gases. Also, it was mentioned in the first few paras of this study that proper safety equipments were lacking for the workers. I think the government should too be held responsible for ignoring the basic simple precautions that were needed to be taken before implementing a hazardous plant in a settlement area. All the pros and cons before setting up the plant should have been checked to minimize all or any casualties. The city's Hamidia Hospital was expected to have a proper antidote to the poisonous gas as it was the only power plant to set up in that area. The right thing that was to be done was to inform about the leak immediately to the higher authorities once it started. But UCIL was reluctant to do so whilst hundreds of people were already dying in their sleep. A sense of mere ignorance and selfishness is seen over human and social morals.
  • ssrivu October 28, 2020 at 12:54pm
    The liability of UCC is understandable since they reportedly owned 50.9% of the plant, while 49.1% was owned by UCIL. Moreover, the preliminary designs sent by UCC had a major role to play in the tragic event. The stakeholders in this case would be the employers and employees of UCC and UCIL, the local residents living near the plant (almost 700000 affected) and to some extent, the US and Indian governments. There are a few places where the operation went wrong and had a scope for improvement.
    1. Miscommunication – Miscommunication, rather lack of communication, is one of the major reasons for the devastation that Bhopal, along with a lot many organizations and individuals had to face. Although the report in West Virginia disclosed certain flaws in the system that came as a warning, the so very important information was never relayed to the Indian plant authorities. Be this intentional withholding or a “silly” mistake, this gap in communication was undoubtedly the primary fatal reason that can be spotted here.
    2. Negligence – 1976 till 1984 means around 7 years, throughout which a number of fatal and non-fatal accidents have shown face in the plant, some very alarming situations were met and it never occurred to the people in-charge to take matters out in the open and at least discuss these with the other investors and stakeholders. Running a plant is way different than running some small business, where losses can be (comparatively) easily compensated for. This also comes under miscommunication.
    3. Tendency to Cut Costs and Time – We have seen in many cases where cost cutting and rapid decisions have cost fortunes and even lives. Nevertheless, we tend to continue indulging in temporary benefit grabbing. Indigenous production of MIC has had its benefits of course, but time should have been taken before commencing work on the Bhopal plant when the preliminary templates were handed in by UCC. The hurry has cost more than the expected return, and manifold.
    4. Blind Acceptance and Lack of Knowledge – Accepting the crude designs by the UCC without analysing the data has had its role to play in this devastation.
    5. Outsourcing – Outsourcing has its pros and cons and most cases, unchecked utilitarian approaches have led to many tragic incidents, and even more smaller losses.
    6. The Eternal Blame Game – Whether the situation was an accident or intentional has not been found out yet. But even after such a tragic episode, the countries, instead of engaging in mutual efforts to mend and prevent calamities, have tried their best to blame each other and save a reputation. The concern is not the past or the present anymore. We should worry about the future, and more so because we have witnessed that no matter how hard the society has to fall, the changes required to make the world a safer place are extremely slow in arriving. And perhaps we’ll experience or witness more such incidents before we even start taking some serious steps. Although I acknowledge the fact that laws have become stricter on paper, their implementation still seems like a distant dream.
  • ssbt.piu October 28, 2020 at 10:57am
    Bhopal Gas Tragedy is a historical story that caused a great hazard to the biology of mankind and the environmental discrepancy. The gas led its impact on the every generations thereafter. The tragedy was a symbol of casual industrial setup and was an insight of how such a disaster can affect life henceforth. Inter-government corruption may also be one of the cause of such casualties. The legal and scientific base maybe weak or non-cooperative. Every such industries must be aware of the welfares of the nation dwellers and the environmental concerns. And if that is disturbed due any casualties, or maybe an ironic approach, it must be kept in concern hence after not to repeat the same errors for repeated time. For such discrepancies to handle the government also take proper actions to confirm proper get-up of the industries scientifically with minimal loss of environmental and public threats.
  • ssrini October 28, 2020 at 10:56am
    Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984 stands as a haunting example to the industrial world. Various changes and new protocols have been implemented in the chemical plants after this terrific incident of gas leakage. The stake holders in this case are the employers and employee of UCC and UCIL, the governments of USA and India as well as the local governments, local people of residing near the Bhopal plant.
    After analysing the case properly, various points come out which need to be discussed:
    • Lack of proper skill and knowledge while designing the basic plan of manufacturing MIC. Both UCC and UCIL is responsible for it. The basic plan of UCC was faulty and UCIL when implementing it to manufacture MIC indigenously did not bother to check the authenticity and safety measures of the plant.
    • This brings to my second point, that being, negligence and ignorance to the safety measures of the plant. Various incidents of dangerous and fatal accidents and gas leakage have been occurring from 1976 to 1984, which have been purposefully ignored to avoid any legal issues. Safety of the employees, local residents and environmental hazards- all have been well ignored and only manufacturing and profit making have been given importance, which is very much against work ethics and moral values.
    • Lack of awareness amongst the employees, local people and authority is another major issue. A plant working with such hazardous chemicals must ensure proper disaster management training and drills for the employees. Thus, at the moment of crisis panic made situation worse. Not only the local people, but also the hospitals nearby were unaware of the effects of MIC. Proper law and protocols must be implemented by the Government and the local authority, by which safety, precautionary measures and awareness become compulsory.
    • Lack of communication and miscommunication play a very important role in this case. All the minor gas leaking incidents and accidents should have been reported to UCC since the basic design was same. The reports of the safety audit done by UCC should have been informed to UCIL. Blame game is chosen over safety and acceptance of faults. Not informing the authorities and police to cover up the faults of the company, risking lives of lakhs of people is no doubt unethical.
    Concentrating only on gaining profit is not only unethical but proves fatal in this case. The stakeholders ignored the occurring incidents, neglected safety measures and did not give much thought on the overall well being of the company, its people and society as a whole. Skilled, dedicated and properly trained individuals must be employed to supervise the design, quality and safety measures of the machineries and storage tanks associated with the manufacturing of hazardous chemicals like MIC. Safety of the employees as well as locals should be given first priority and for that ensuring proper training and awareness is essential for the authorities concerned.
This reply was deleted.