Bhopal Gas Tragedy : A Terrible Gas Leak

The CMA received a follow up stating that everything had been corrected. Another letter was sent from the CMA asking for details in March of 1947. On March 25, 1947 the explosion occurred (Martin 1948). I believe that if someone actually went to inspect these corrections that were made the explosion or the 111 causalities could have been avoided.

Effects of poisonous gas attacks- Chlorine was used in the gas attacks and within seconds of inhaling it, the vapors destroyed the victim’s respiratory organs. Then

According to Joseph, Kaszniak and Long (2005, p. 544), prior to the disaster, the company had been facing a financial crisis for many years because the sale of pesticides had been fallen. Mannan (2012, p. 2649) points out that due to the budget cuts, many plant operators received insufficient training on operations and safety awareness. As shown in figure 1, there was a decrease in the length of training programmes for plant operators from 18 months in 1975 to only one month in December 1984, which is mentioned by Chouhan (2005, p. 207). Therefore, Chouhan (2005, p. 207) indicates that without the knowledge of runaway reactions occurring in the storage tank when the accident happened, many workers could not immediately take any emergency action to lessen the risk of the MIC escape from

In Shreveport, LA, many residents suffer from respiratory issues that they believe are caused by the local refinery, Calumet (Moskowitz). Residents have suffered for generations losing family members to cancer that they believe is brought on by pollution that the refinery emits. Some residents suffer lesser but chronic health issues ranging from minor respiratory issues like asthma to blood clots in their lungs. “Calumet denies that its refinery is the cause of any of these health issues” (Moskowitz). Many chemicals that are released by refineries can cause respiratory problems, cancer, nerve damage, and in some cases even death. There is no absolute way to be sure that all health problems happening near Calumet are caused by the pollution that it emits, but it could be a contributing factor in worsening symptoms. A resident of Marrero, LA, a town south of Norco refining, stated that they could not leave their house due to excess levels of pollution triggering asthma attacks (Ludwig). Sulfur dioxide is a known chemical that can trigger asthma attacks, it is also one of the many harmful chemicals that can be released by refineries (Sturgis). Refineries will measure levels of emissions when there is a chemical spill, so they know almost exactly how much pollution they have emitted. Minor incidents are not always reported or are under reported, but they can have the same damaging effects on the environment and the overall health of the community (Sturgis). “LABB’s reports confirms what workers and residents have known for years-petrochemical companies to often skirt the laws for reporting serious incidents”

On August 28, 2008, at about 10:35 p.m., a runaway chemical reaction occurred inside a 4,500 gallon pressure vessel known as a residue treater, causing the vessel to explode violently in the methomyl unit at the Bayer CropScience facility in Institute, West Virginia. Highly flammable solvent sprayed from the vessel and immediately ignited, causing an intense fire that burned for more than 4 hours. The fire was contained inside the Methomyl-Larvin insecticide unit by the Bayer CropScience fire brigade with mutual aid assistance from local volunteer and municipal fire departments.

The shell refinery located close to the day care in the reservation, leaked toxic chemicals into the air. The children got sick and no one notified the Aamjiwnaang people to tell them it leaked so the children went misdiagnosed. There are many spills that go unnoticed and the effects on the people of Sarnia and the workers are dangerous. Each plant is allowed to produce a certain amount of chemicals which is said to be “okay for the environment”. No study has been done to know what happens when all the different chemicals mix together in the

In order to learn about the T2 Laboratories explosion and fire, I first watched the YouTube video created by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (USCSB). After watching the video, I participated in a class discussion about the video. Lastly, I did further research on my own by reading the Wikipedia page about the incident.

For this research paper, I chose to discuss the Louisiana air quality and its effects on the community. I was raised here in Baker, Louisiana which is north of Baton Rouge. Growing up I noticed something very striking and odd. We are overly exposed to chemical plants and their outputs. Driving around Baton Rouge at night and seeing a distant flame I often wonder what it really was. I wonder how this was affecting the community. How was this affecting our health? Upon doing research, I discovered it is called upset emissions. Upset emissions are unplanned events which release VOCs into the air. The Bucket Brigade which is an anti-energy group refers to emissions as accidents. Every year they release an annual report which gives

When Sodium hydroxide comes in contact with the environment, it can be extremely dangerous, as it reacts with other chemicals that are already in the air. If this leak would have spilled into any of the waters, it would

Just after midnight on May 4, 2009, flammable vapor from the process leaked and ignited causing an explosion that severely injured two employees. Subsequent explosions damaged the site and nearby residences and businesses. It took over ten hours to subdue the flames.

This Article talks about the methane leak that took place in Porter Ranch Los Angeles, but the were no casualties. There was a leakage from Aliso Canyon natural-gas storage facility, which was one hundred thousand tons of methane, and it is considered to be one of the worst environmental disasters. More than 2,000 families were evacuated from their neighborhood after some people encountered headaches, vomiting, and bloody noses.

Although, this incident was clearly an accident but, raises concern about terrorist activity. Vinyl Chloride is a necessary product in the production of PVC goods and short-term exposures has effects on the central nervous system (CNS), extended or long-term exposure result in liver damage and cancer (EPA, 2000). I believe a terrorist attack unfortunately could be successful with chemical weapons utilizing a passenger train or rail cars and purposely causing a crash or derailment to release the chemical into the community. The accidental train derailment carrying vinyl chloride caused respiratory problems, dizziness and nausea to many of the residents within 3,500 feet of the incident and resulted in about 250 visits to the emergency room for evaluation from other residents (NJDOH, 2014). Undoubtedly, after being part of the HazMat response in 2012 and knowing many residents of the small community were exposed to vinyl chloride, an intentional release of a chemical agent designated as a weapon could easily be carried out utilizing the rail system. If we modify the scenario somewhat from vinyl chloride to a chemical weapon with 250 people affected this would be a major impact not only to the community but, to the hospitals and

A presidential committee was designated to review the accident. After various months the investigators wrote a report, showing an O-Ring seal rupture as the main reason of the explosion. Due to the freezing climate, the ring didn’t expand to hold the seal firm, letting hot vapors to escape.

Prior to the disaster, the company had been facing a financial crisis for many years because the sale of pesticides had been fallen (Joseph, Kaszniak and Long 2005, p. 544). Due to the budget cuts, many plant operators received insufficient training on operations and safety awareness (Mannan 2012, p. 2649). As shown in Figure 1, there was a decrease in the length of training programmes for plant operators from 18 months in 1975 to only one month in December 1984 (Chouhan 2005, p. 207). Therefore, with a lack of the knowledge of runaway reactions occurring in the storage tank when the accident happened, many workers could not immediately take any emergency action to lessen the risk of the MIC escape from the storage tank (Chouhan 2005, p. 207). To connect the tank with another

In the incident that occurred at SJV Refinery which processes crude oil daily by utilizing the Atmospheric/Vacuum Distillation process. Improper release of command during construction plans led to the uncontrolled release of acid gas into atmosphere. A welder was in close proximity of the gas, causing the gas to ignite. The area was evacuated and the emergency response team began to take command, following set emergency plans that had been set into place. Appropriate fire services were notified along with the plant manager. The Emergency response team was unable to isolate the pipeline. The refinery houses many different hazardous materials that have the potential to harm life and property. There is a plastic recycling center that is on the south fence line of the plant, a residential area 1000 feet from the perimeter and a major highway is a quarter(1/4) of a mile away. The following information discusses several things. First we will look at the interactions of the acid gas itself and some of its properties. In order to determine what steps will be taken to isolate the acid gas and to potentially combat the fire, the research of interactions between the hazardous materials that are located on site and near the fire along with adjoining facilities must be examined. In this study we will go over processes of the Unified incident commander, and will discuss what corrective actions should be