Bhopal, India Disaster Of 1984
This paper will examine the Bhopal, India disaster of 1984 focusing on the ethical responsibility of Union Carbide. In the rest of this document is the case that a corporation has a responsibility to behave ethically if for no other reason than increase in long term profitability.
Background
In 1969 the Union Carbide plan was built in Bohpal India. The plant was operated by Union Carbide India Ltd (Leonard, 2010). 50.9% of the plant was owned by Union Carbide (of which Union Carbide India Ltd was a subsidiary), 22% of the plan was owned by the Indian Government and the remaining 27.1% ownership was spread over approximately 23500 Indian Citizens (Trotter, Day, & Love, 1989).
In 1977 an additional plant began construction though before completion in 1979 some portions of the plant were redesigned. The plant was built to have a maximum annual production capacity of 5000 tons of Sevin though this production level was never reached. In 1982 an audit of the plant pointed out 10 safety deficiencies, of which 2 remained unresolved by 1984. However the plant managers at the plant had writing Union Carbide in the US stating that all problems from the 1982 audit had been rectified. (Trotter, Day, & Love, 1989)
The Union Carbide plant in Bhopal had been losing money and a number of cost saving measures were taken. These measures resulted including the reduction of equipment operators in 1983 from 12 to 5 employees per shift. This change caused many operators to quit which…
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