The Factory Of Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

In the following, we will discuss about one of the huge accidents and one the most dangerous tragedies, The Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

2.0 Introduction:

Union Carbide Corporation comes to India in 1972 as part of green revolution. All the labors inside it were Indians. It’s located in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh in India, far from capital city of India (New Delhi) about 360 miles to the south (figure 1.1). On the midnight of 2nd/3rd December 1984, Union Carbide Corporation had an accident, which ranked as the worst industrial accident ever. This accident was due to an explosion on 40 tons of toxic gas. It caused dangerous environment for population. [2] The population on that time was approximately 850,000 people [1].

Bhopal_New_Delhi_Shatabdi_Route

(Figure 1.1)

3.0 Problem Presentation

3.1 Available Safety System

Vent gas scrubber: The gas has been toxified from the factory. But this system was off.

Flare tower: This system has been found to burn off the gas going out. But the pipe has been taken off to repair it.

Refrigeration system: Built to cool the liquid MIC, but it’s turned off since June 1984 to save more money and use it with other plants.

Heating water: this system to evaporate water, but the system wasn’t working well.[3]

3.2 Previous history:

1981 phosgene gas exposed for one worker and killed him.

1982 also phosgene gas exposed for 24 workers and killed them.

1982 MIC has burned an engineer.

1982 in the process to fix leak in valve, a operator got many burns.[3]

3.3 1984 accident

The underground tank of Methyl Isocyanine (MIC) at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal explodes and release of 40 tons of deadly toxic gas. The cloud covered 40 square kilometers of Bhopal, causing thousands of casualties, the exact number is not known, but will never be killed at least 3,000 person died, and 100,000 person were injured. Then, more than 120,000 people daily life effects from the gas. [4]

The accident was the worst industrial catastrophe history. MIC is used in the manufacture of insecticide in the Union Carbide factory. The MIC extremely easy volatile, reactive, and they have been under pressure from the heat exchanger cooled refrigeration a valve malfunction, water flying into the tank, connecting pipes and water tanks and cause a positive reaction, resulting in "out of control" situation. The washing, fully immersed in the steam flow and a boiling liquid substantially non reactive gas from the tower MIC. [5]

Problem analysis

Responsibility for safety

The main reason of this big disaster is the safety system. Safety system defines as management tool comprising of a systematic ,periodic and objective evaluation of how well the safety organization, management and equipment are performing, with the aim of helps to safeguard a company’s assets by facilitating management control of safety, health and environmental practices and assessing compliance with established standards. Furthermore, the essential elements of safety systems contain on safety, health and environment [6].

The factory of Bhopal Gas Tragedy was having four types of safety systems and all of them were not working due to the lack of the checking on them and the price it coast. Furthermore, The Union Carbide factory did not have much information about the safe storage of these highly toxic gases [7].

Humanitarian concerns

Humanitarian concerns define as to take care of all the workers who work in your business and the people surround that area. As we mentioned in problem presentation many workers of the factory has died before this big disaster happened and with number of people who died because this disaster it reflects that there was no care for humanitarian concern. However, there was a lack of co-ordination between the factory and emergency services. Moreover, there were not many trained professionals in that factory which caused to increase the number of people who died. Furthermore, 120,000 people were affected directly and indirectly and many more thousands of families were permanently affected for generations. In addition, Most of the information on the medical consequences of Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal has been detained by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR, 1985).

The ICMR has established that the toxins from the Union Carbide factory have caused damage to the lungs, brains, kidneys, muscles as well as gastrointestinal, reproductive, immunological and other systems. ( Gupta et al.,1988,Rastogi et al. 1988, Saxena et al. ,1988,Bhandari et al.1990,Cullinan et al. 1996,Culillan et al.,1997 ) Bronchial asthma, Chronic Obstructive Airways disease, recurrent chest infections and fibrosis of the lungs. ( ICMR, 1987 – 1991 ) are the principal effects of exposure induced lung injury . The prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis among the exposed population has been found to be 3 – 4 times than that of national average.[8]

Environmental ethics

This disaster has affected on the environment around the factory. Several residual environmental aspects still linger in Bhopal, 17 years after the tragedy. According to a study conducted by Greenpeace the continued contamination of the groundwater, soil and breast milk present a serious health threat not only to those currently exposed but also to future generations. According to experts, the evidence suggests that the toxics have not only moved across various mediums, but tropic transfer of these chemicals, essentially through the food chain, causes these toxics to become part of the body burden. On one hand, Greenpeace continue to contend that Dow chemicals are lagging in the cleanup efforts of the Bhopal area, on the other hand Dow Chemical’s claim that it has no responsibility.

A Greenpeace scientific study in 1999 and some others by government agencies have confirmed the presence of several life-threatening poisons such as mercury and other heavy metals, chlorinated pesticides and pollutants in the scattered waste.

The Greenpeace study, which also analyzed groundwater samples from the sources residents around the factory now use, revealed toxic pollutants, some of which were carcinogenic. These have been related to the chronic illnesses suffered by the residents some of which were enumerated in the beginning. [9]

The investigation once found more than 20 tones of Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) in sacks lying in an open shed in the abandoned factory. HCH is a persistent organic pollutant and an environmental poison linked to immune-system and reproductive disorders [10].

The Bhopal Tragedy prompted the Indian Government to require Environmental Impact Assessment statements for any central approval of projects for emission or effluent standards. The statements are required to be prepared by committees should contain expert analysis from disciplines in eco-system and water resource management, air and water pollution control, flora and fauna conservation, land-use planning, social sciences, ecology and environmental health. Public hearings were also required as pre- requisite for project clearance. The measure also provides for a manufactured product to receive certification as environmentally friendly or compatible. Several dam projects (Silent Valley, Narmada Power Plant project) have run into road blocks due to these requirements. [11]

Economic impact

According to various value-event studies published after the tragedy (Salinger, 1992; Marcus et. al., 1991), the abnormal return of the Union Carbide stock increased after the lag of just a month. This lag might not have contributed by the catastrophe, but previous events prior to the tragedy such as profits for the corporation dropping and several takeover bids (Salinger, 1992), for example a failed takeover bid by GAF. The increase in the stock prices was explained as a result of restructuring and recapitalization of the company before the sell-off. According to a study published in Journal of Management Science (Marcus et. al. 1991), stock prices respond positively to defensive activities by the management, rather than accommodative moves by managers towards the victims. This explains how managers while trying to deflect lawsuits suppress their personal human reactions towards tragedy and try to deny all responsibility (Marcus et. al., 1991). This may serve to answer the question where the Union Carbide officials accused sabotage by a disgruntled employee or attack by a "Sikh terrorist". By accommodative signals, as the settlement of 470$ million, the shareholders see this action as an acceptance of responsibility to the tragedy and the acceptance of problems within the company and the stock reacts in a negative way (Marcus et. al. 1991), but they could not reject their null hypothesis (H0: When a company is involved in an accident, its investors will react more positively to defensive signals than to accommodative signals). The Dow chemical company successfully took over Union Carbide in February 6th 2001, after that Union Carbide became a wholly-owned subsidiary. Dow owned all the stock of Union Carbide, but UC remained a separate entity. Thereafter Dow claimed that the stockholders and the Union Carbide did not have any responsibility in the tragedy. [11,12]

Legal obligation

This case involves complex proceedings and legal toss rounds between India and US. In the months following the tragedy, the Government of India appointed itself as sole representative of the victims for any legal dealings with Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) for processing of compensation by the Bhopal Gas Leak Act of 1985 (Lloyd- Jones, Shah and Chawla, 1996). With this consolidation of power, the Government of India filed a claim suit against Union Carbide for compensation and damages in the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York. The decision to bring the case in US was due to the fact that Indian Courts did not have jurisdiction over UCC, the parent company, which is a defendant in this case. UCC appealed on basis of forum non conveniens (forum not convenient), basis on the plaintiff’s lack of standing to bring the suit in United States and the purported lack of authority of the lawyers employed by them to represent them (The Union of India v. Union Carbide Corporation, US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, January 14th, 1987). The Judge John F. Keenan dismissed their actions on basis of forum non convenience based on certain conditions. The conditions were that UCC:

1. Consent to jurisdiction to the Courts of India and continue to waive defenses based on statute of limitations.

2. Agree to satisfy any judgment rendered by an Indian court against it and upheld on appeal, provided the judgment and affirmance "comport with the minimal requirements of due process," 3. Be subject to discovery under the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure of the United States.

Judge Keenan, on delivering the judgment states, "… The Indian judiciary was found by the court to be a developed, independent and progressive one, which has demonstrated its capability in circumventing long delays by devising special expediting procedures in extraordinary cases such as by directing its High Court to hear them in a daily basis, appointing special tribunals to handle them, and assigning daily hearing duties to a single judge." However one factor Judge Keenan found was that according to the Indian legal system parties were allowed discovery, however it is limited to what is admissible in trial. This he thought might limit the victim’s access to the sources of proof. Therefore he ordered Union Carbide should consent to discovery of it in accordance with the federal rules of civil procedure after the cases were transferred to India. He added, "While the court feels that it would be fair to bind the plaintiffs to American discovery rules, it has no authority to do so." Both Union of India and UCC appealed. This appeal was heard in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge Mansfield while affirming the dismissal on basis of forum non convenes said that Indian courts were in a superior position to construe and apply the Indian Laws and standards than would the courts of United States, witnesses and sources were almost entirely located in India and all the records were kept in India. [11, 13]

5.0 Code of ethics to solve the problem

Ethical conduct is very important in our life. It provides people to have morals and principles which organize their life. Ethics show people what is right and what is wrong, especially when in times of making decisions. Engineers act as leaders to their workers. They have huge responsibilities in their burdens. They must make sure that their works done well without any dangerous impacts in their society and environment. They must have ethical compass that tell them what is the right things to do. Not for them self only, but also for society and environmental seeks of issues. Engineers should be dealers with hope for their society, by providing the best products and services, in the best quality and preservation to the environment.

In the following, we will discuss our points of view to solve The Bhopal Gas Tragedy. So that, we will not face this tragedy again.

Integrity: the main concern of engineers is to provide the safety for the people, No matter what is his\her position in the working field, and No matter what are his\her tasks of his\her job. In Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the supervisor who knew the valve is faulty, must alarm it to the one who manage it, even if this is not his job.

Priorities & Loyalty: Engineers are loyal to their company, managers, working field, society, and the environment. But, in terms of Priorities, engineers must adjust their ethical compass in the different circumstances of their works. They must be open minded in the project they are in. Whether it is ethical or not. To do that, they must put safety of their society and environment as their priority of their concerns. In The Bhopal Gas Tragedy, The Government Health and Safety inspectors mustn’t simply signed the paper work without proper inspection of the plant!! And also goes to the Indian Government, they mustn’t allow a potentially dangerous plant operate in such a densely populated area!!

"The question is not whatever you are loyal. It is who you are loyal to"

Benjamin Franklin.

Use your Knowledge in your specialized working area: Engineers mustn’t let them self to be intruders to others’ fields of work!! They must use their knowledge in their specialty area, but this doesn’t mean that if you saw a faulty in an area, not related to your specialized area, to not do anything, at least you must alarm the people who are in this area about it. One of the main causes to The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is the weakness in management. Managers of the plant are not experienced in managing a pesticide plant, as they are transferred from another plant manufacturing batteries.

"What gets us into trouble, is not what we don’t know, is just what we know for sure that just ain’t so" Mark Twain.

Plan well: Another problem in The Bhopal Gas Tragedy was the poor of designing and planning, and the lack of quality of the materials. Engineers must have the way of thinking in seeking for efficiency. The efficiency which put engineers in two choices. Low quality and dangerous devices that they are cheaper and not stand for long time. Or, the best quality and safe, which stand for long period, but expensive. Of course, for whom engineers that they have ethics that control on their behavior will choose the best quality. Because, they know that, first, it will stand for long time, and second, they will preserve the safety for public and environment, and third they will not have tragic mistakes.

"Waste is worse than loss" Thomas A. Edison

6.0 Conclusion

In conclusion, the cornerstone that determines a person is his\her ethics. Ethics that control one’s behavior to conduct and make decisions in the best performance and the best way. The Bhopal Gas Tragedy was one of the worst industrial disasters caused by the neglect of humans for the purpose of saving money. In the other hand, the safety systems in the plant were non-functioning, and the plant was not following the international standers for safety and quality. Moreover, the Engineers, supervisors and workers in the plant were inexperienced result many accidents before the big tragedy occur. Furthermore, as we mentioned, this tragedy has noticeable effect on the economic and the environment of India. As Engineers, we should be learned a lot by now from the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. In the future, Engineers must be more careful and more ethical follower, and they must make their first priority the public safety before the money, because people's lives are more valuable than money. "we judge a man by how he honors his responsibility" Lord Robert Baden-Powell

"Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with the important matters" Albert Einstein.

From the perspective of Islam "if job is worth doing, it is worth doing well" Prophet Mohammad peace be upon him.