Bhopal Gas Disaster Of 1984

The National Safety Council reported in the 2011 injury facts that nine out of then deaths in the United States occurred off the job (NSC, 2011). A large amount of these deaths, nearly 13%, occurred due to poisoning at home. The safety and health principle of safe chemical handling can apply to personal conduct at home because at any given time there are multiple chemicals in households in the kitchen, laundry room and garage. Knowing how to safely handle, use and store these chemicals is a must for any person. Keeping them out of children’s reach and ensuring they are stored in well ventilated, climate controlled environments are every bit as necessary at home as they are in the workplace. Safe chemical handling applies to the workplace is various ways such as Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) and measuring exposure levels (Asfahl & Rieske, 2010).

There is certainly not enough space to examine all twelve stories presented in Lerner’s book in this paper, and they are all shocking—both in terms of the level of exposure to toxic chemicals and the questionable choices of corporate and government officials—but a few stories stand out.

In the beginning of this essay I would like to present some facts and figures related to our topic. On December 3, 1984, at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India there was a deadly leak of methyl isocyanate. It caused thousands of people to die and affected generations to come. The leak happened due to a series of human and mechanical failures. The local health officials were neither knowledgeable about the deadly chemical that was being stored there nor were they equipped to handle the tragedy. Another incident happened at the Union Carbide plant in West Virginia. A toxic cloud of the same chemical was leaked into the atmosphere and it was a shocking reminder that such accidents could happen in the both developed and developing countries. The statistics prove that chemical spills occur on a regular basis in different parts of the world. In 1976 there were

John Bartlow Martin in his case study exams the Centralia No.5 coal mine disaster on March 25,1947. This explosion occurred near the town of Centralia, Illinois, killing 111 mine workers. The detonation of the mine was caused of heavy deposits coal -dust along the roadway and entrances which over time exploded. Tunnel fires killed most miners, other were trapped and died with accumulating of poison gas. The explosion of Centralia No.5 can be blamed cause of lack of mine safely which this tragedy could have been prevented if the basic standards were followed.

Within the last ten years, the lack of awareness and false guidelines about the toxicity of pesticides has contributed to many tragic events. In 1988, Karen James, a Michigan postal worker, was walking past one of ChemLawn’s "fertilizer" trucks when a hose ruptured and she was drenched with chemicals. She was told by the ChemLawn employee not to worry because only fertilizers were in the spray and she would be fine. However, soon after she became seriously ill, with symptoms that include diarrhea, vomiting, and fatigue. When her doctor called ChemLawn to find out what chemicals she was exposed to, he was told that they do not use chemicals. But later tests on Karen revealed high levels of Dursban, a toxic pesticide, which forced ChemLawn to admit that they had been lying (Dieglman, 1996).

Pollution is a term that recently in the last sixty years became widely known in the United States. The idea was first introduced in the United States by Rachel Carson’s book, titled Silent Spring. Rachel Carson developed a clear thesis inside Silent Spring where every claim made in the book is supported with enormous substantial factual evidence. The overall theme of the book is calling for awareness and addressing issues with excessive usage of man-made and natural chemicals implemented into daily human life. Although Rachel Carson focuses predominately on concerns surrounding the topic of DDT, the author also gives her perspectives on other chemicals that are harmful to the environment. The research Rachel Carson has done to make the world well-informed on pollution was a great start to placing the topic on people’s mind. Nonetheless, in today’s world, humans must continue to enrich themselves on current pollution issues by understanding which chemicals contribute to pollution and how large in concentration. Human error must also be taken into account because chemicals humans thought could not be harmful can at times. An example of chemicals people thought could not be harmful was asbestos.

The cause of the development of the chemical disaster traces back to the 1950s. As the Industrial Revolution took place, mining took a significant role in city life. According to the Berkeley Pit Public Education Committee, “in 1955, copper prices

On December 3, 1984 a gas leak occurred at a facility in Bhopal India, owned and operated by Union Carbide India Limited that killed an estimated 3,500 people, although some speculate the death toll was closer to 8,000. To this day, the residual effects of the toxic chemicals that were poured on the ground and buried by Union Carbide workers at the Bhopal site continue to make people sick. Heavily contaminated soils and groundwater have poisoned an estimated 200,000 people with chronic exposure since the gas leak occurred and long after the plant was shut down. Union Carbide claimed

As previously stated, the Bhopal plant was responsible for the production of Carbaryl, otherwise known as Sevin which was released under the brand name Eveready. The plant itself aided Bhopal somewhat with attracting new people with the promise of jobs and fixing the inconsistent electricity supplied to the city. While the plant was initially very profitable, eventually the market changed, leaving the factory making a loss every year. The plant eventually stopped producing Sevin due to a large backlog of Methyl Isocyanate and little demand in the market for it[1]. Many of the safety features could have reduced the severity, or completely stopped the Bhopal Disaster altogether. However, with none of these active, very little stopped the Methyl Isocyanate cloud from descending upon Bhopal. In addition staff size was reduced below recommended levels, leaving very few workers on shifts with only a single supervisor[1]. Available positions would now be a less attractive prospect to workers, leading workers with fewer skills than previously to take up positions in the plant. Over 50 tons of Methyl Isocyanate in liquid form was stored in two tanks beneath the plants (though some workers claim that a 3rd reserve tank was in use too), and were kept there for several months.

Union carbide and the Bhopal disaster, is a disaster that happened due to a MIC gas leaked from the pesticide plant of union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) and killed almost half of the population in surrounding area closed to plant. Not following the rules and regulations that are required to run a pesticide company and moreover safety requirements were not followed according to the manual specified. UCIL goal was the same when we compare to any regular business, which is earning profits. They used to make profits, but exclusive of maintaining proper safety requirements, safety rules were four times below in compare to USA safety standards. Top level management is the key for whole organization but in this condition they were lacking safety

This accident is one of the biggest industrial incident till date taken place in India. The chemical, methyl isocyanate which leaked out from the Union Carbide India Ltd's factory killed thousands of people. Within a weeks of the accident the worst was over. The people were still suffering from common ailments such as TB. Till today no body knows much about the toxin gas or its antidote and how to treat people exposed to this gas. The children born after the incident were also affected because of the exposure to the poisonous gas in their mother's womb.

Union Carbide Corporation & Sahu v. Union Carbide Corporation commonly known as Bhopal Gas Tragedy the tragedy occurred on December 2-3, 1984 in Bhopal where Carbide gas plant disaster at Bhopal, India, filed suit against Union Carbide and its former CEO, Warren Anderson, in federal court in New York.The leak of poisonous gas from the Bhopal pesticide plant killed over 5,000 people immediately, and injured many thousands more. Union Carbide's actions violated international human rights law, environmental law, and international criminal law, and the plaintiffs sought to hold the corporation accountable for these violations. US Court of Appeals confirm the transfer of litigation to India and rules that UCIL is a separate legal entity, owned, managed and operated exclusively by Indian Citizens in India. In November, 2004, a similar law suit was filed against Union Carbide on behalf of other plaintiffs who were injured by the water pollution at Bhopal and in March, 2007 a similar suit was filed on behalf of other plaintiffs alleging property

Three causes of the 1984 Bhopal Chemical Plant disaster in India were long-term financial difficulties, poor safety management and inadequate emergency plans. The disaster occurred when water entered a methyl isocyanate (MIC) storage tank, which led to a runaway reaction and then discharged toxic MIC vapour into the atmosphere. The leak caused the deaths of more than 2,000 people and injured about 200,000 locals in the surrounding shanty towns (Kletz 2009, p. 338).

A single slip in action may cause lasting sorrow. A slight mistake in operation at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal of India causes a lot of deaths and injuries. What a tragedy it is. Undoubtedly, there must be something wrong with the management of the plant.

The second section of the book focused on the chemical industry, specifically vinyl chloride, where it was explained there was little known about the effects of chemicals. Because of this, there was the question of whether “a product was to be considered safe until proven dangerous” or vice versa where a product was considered dangerous until proven safe. This time the public showed greater opposition to the use of vinyl chloride, as environmentalists and labor unions united to reveal the harmful effects of it. Similar to the lead industry, the chemical industry also fought back reasoning to the government that only high levels of chemical exposure was harmful to people and the government