Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Three causes of the Bhopal Chemical Plant disaster happening in India in 1984 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 death of more than 2,000 people and the health effects on about 200,000 locals in the surrounding shanty towns (Kletz 2009, p. 338).

Many firms are learning that being environmentally friendly and sustainable has numerous benefits. (O.C Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2015). This could enable them to increase goodwill from various stakeholders and also save money in the long term. This will mean that they are being more efficient and less wasteful of resources, which will enable them to be more competitive by satisfying stakeholders. The CEO of

-Ensure that the use storage & transport of plant and substances is safe and without risks to health

During 1970, Indian government encouraged foreign companies to invest in local industry and Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) was asked to set up a plant to manufacture pesticide, to market throughout Asia. Bhopal was chosen as its location because of central location and easier means of transportation. The plant was operated by UCIL, a company controlled by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), an American giant chemical company presently a subsidiary of Dow Chemicals, held a 51% ownership in UCIL and 49% by Indian investors including Government of India. Prior, to the catastrophe the plant had been manufacturing Sevin at one fourth of its production due

For the sake of argument, I will say, the spill is the results of poor judgment, technological ineptness and lack of oversight by regulatory offices, as well as, the direct failure to take safety into account.

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

On the night of December 2, 1984, methyl isocyanate gas was released and leaked by the Union Carbide’s chemical plant in Bhopal (“Dougal”). This gas accident killed as many as 10000 people in India and several other thousands of people several thousand other individuals suffered permanent or partial disabilities (Sanjib, p2). However, the Union Carbide Corporation, who built and owned the Carbide’s chemical plant in Bhopal, negotiated with the Indian government and settled for $470 million dollars, which is abysmal for the damage they inflicted on people in India(“India Bhopal Disaster”). I believe the way the Union Carbide Corporation reacted and coped with the situation was very unethical and inappropriate. They did not even attempt to

A class action is a type of lawsuit in which one or several persons sue on behalf of a larger group of persons, referred to as "the class." It may be called as representative action which is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is represented collectively by an individual who is member of group of people. The class action originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, but several European countries with civil law, have made changes in recent years to allow consumer organizations to bring claims on behalf of consumers. In a typical class action law suit a plaintiff sues a defendant or number of defendants on behalf of a group of persons. It is a Civil Action. The class action must have certain definite characteristics (often referred to by the acronym CANT):

Their goal is to focus on environment protection and ensure that the right products are placed in challenging markets. Apart from that, they want to boost the profitability and at the same time enhance the flexibility and efficiency of production. Moreover, they aim to increase their customer base and also delivering better satisfaction to the current customers. (para. 3, 4)

As a result, the following came a lot of lawsuits, demanding compensation, and investigations, investigating the cause of the MIC leak, against the plant. During the investigations, both the government of India and the interior of the Union Carbide did research on that incident. We are not surprised at their different answers because the plant wanted to cover the truth that was harmful to themselves and the government as a result could not get the truth on the other hand. However, I can¡¦t deny that the plant really did something such as relief fund, training school, and so on to prove that they really wanted to compensate for that gas leak. In this case, I don¡¦t think that the CEO of Union Carbide should be arrested or be sentenced. But I do think he should be responsible for the whole case. In other words, he should resign for the whole incident.

The rising need for protection of intellectual property rights and improvement of public health lead the pharmaceutical industry to establish an agreement in 2001 with the World Trade Organization. In Sanofi’s earliest archived sustainability effort, Environmental Progress Report 2001, it states that Sanofi has taken initiatives to promote sustainable development as a reaction to the rise of wider and on going responsibilities. They have pursued these defensive efforts through promoting safety in the workplace, industrial hygiene, respecting the environment, training & investment, and many more. Sanofi is shelling out great investments for their sustainability programs. In 2001 alone, Sanofi allocated 11.2 Million Euros for a program to limit its operations’ impact on the environment. By 2008, Sanofi showed efforts of compliance with the United Nation’s Agenda 21 Blueprint for sustainability by establishing the four pillars (i.e. Patient, Ethics, Planet, and People) that serves as the foundation of their sustainability efforts . In the following year, Sanofi began its transformation to a diversified global health care company. With this, a Corporate Social Responsibility Direction was created which changed their sustainability report to an encompassing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report. These efforts lead Sanofi to embed their ethical responsibilities and discretionary responsibilities into the company’s

It has been widely understood that UCC and the Indian government utilized one major type of management style that may have contributed to this disaster and is regarded as Top-Down management. This style is still in use today by many corporations, however it is recognized as only being effective in certain situations (Fortun & Embrary , 2001). For example, many corporations utilize top-down when a change needs to be implemented. Executives are able to directly lay out their expectations and what is expected. More specifically, everyone knows the rules and regulations developed by upper management, and follows them. However, regarding the Bhopal disaster, this management style is ineffective because middle management has no power to

For other manufacturers, it is helpful to comprehend the conditions of environmental regulatory alertness and

Corporate social responsibility of the company manifests itself not only to customers but also employees and environment. In the brand’s core there are based principles of respect and understanding for the normal functioning of all processes starting from the development and production to marketing and sales of finished products. The LVMH values in people their interests, needs and values (Social Responsibility, n.d.). This policy is ideally focused on developing new ways of production and using raw materials and resources in innovations according to environment changes. That is why, one of the most important parts in production of product plays The LVMH Environmental Department. The main objectives of the Department are aimed at designing of products by using new innovations and controlling environmental risks (Environment, n.d.).

Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, Vol. 25, No. 1, February 2005, 37-45 DOI: 10.1177/0270467604273822 Copyright  2005 Sage Publications