Disaster Is A Blind Killer

According to the IEEE code of ethics, “a person must disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment.” The engineers here are guilty for not following the IEEE as they would have known the implications of such a disaster and should have tried to warn the company heads or if need be to be more radical, the higher authority which would have stopped

After several weeks of investigating, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission assigned blame to the combination of incompetent employees and a defective and convoluted user interface. The most glaring of these user interface issues was found on the control panel itself. A light on the panel meant to indicate the position of the steam vent's valve was shown to be confirming that the vent was closed, while in truth the vent was open. Many workers were also discovered to have been improperly trained on appropriate procedure and the functions of some indicators, which led to the misreading of many of the plant's implements. NRC inspectors theorized that a nearly inescapable cycle of missteps and errors was set into motion, amplifying the severity of the situation with each passing moment.

The role of the IC in this case was unique in the sense that high carbon monoxide and methane readings were detected sub-surface and the usual planning cycle had to be expedited. Five four man teams were dispatched into the mine to try to reach the miners or at least open some vents to release some of the poisonous gases. This incident also attracted world-wide media coverage and irregular reporting due to miscommunications plagued the ICS

Furthermore, after receiving no support with management on the subject, Boisjoly should have approached the appropriate authorities with the matter. Such response would be warranted as the matter concerned public safety, the upmost priority for engineers. Also, since Thiokol’ management ended up disregarding the engineer’s judgment, Boisjoly should have removed himself from the project and ceased all work on it. Such response is unaffected by Boisjoly’s age, job status, or personal life. While those factors may be important to him, as an engineer, matters concerned with the public safety, health, and welfare come

On December 2nd 1984, 40 tons of deadly Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas and other toxic gasses were released in to the atmosphere from Union Carbide India, Limited’s (UCIL) plant in Bhopal, India. Water meant for cleaning internal pipes was mixed with MIC, due to a faulty valve, which led to an exothermic reaction. The pressure and heat from this powerful reaction led to break down of a safety valve which then caused MIC gas to be released into the atmosphere.

In the control room, approximately fifty alarms were constantly going off. Jim Creswell was certain that the operators down at TMI-2 were taking the wrong measures when accidents occurred. But Creswell was considered a nuisance and a troublemaker, whenever he brought these things to his boss’ attention. Everything costs money to fix, and the plant was new, they just need time to work out the kinks.

On December 2, 1984, water inadvertently entered a storage tank containing more than 80,000 pounds of methyl isocyanate, or MIC, which reacts violently with water. A subsequent runaway reaction generated heat and pressure causing a relief valve to open and resulted in a massive toxic gas release. A dense, lethal cloud of approximately 40 tons of MIC was released to the city exposing to thousands of people. An estimated 3,800 people died immediately, and tens of thousands of people were injured. As of 1994, more than 50,000 people remained partially or totally disabled as a result of exposure to MIC. This tragedy led to the establishment of laws and Process Safety Management system.

The Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico exploded on April 20th, 2010, pouring nearly 5 million barrels into the sea over a three months’ span. Endangering marine wildlife, as well as workers that were injured during the explosion. There were a 126 people on the rig, twenty-eight workers in total were hurt, leaving eleven that were fatally injured, while the other 17 were severely injured.

In this text, Dr. Jorn Birkmann takes an in-depth look at the interaction between society and natural hazards. Birkmann explores, among other things, the concept of vulnerability and how it relates to calamity. There is a focus on how the knowledge of particular natural hazard can be combined with information regarding the vulnerability of a society before a disaster to reduce risk. Overall, this text will provide me with relevant information on the complex interactions between natural hazards and society.

The death tole caused by these explosions is considered the worst industial disaster of all time; resulting in the largest number of casualties in American history. Although a precise death count was never established the Red Cross and the Texas Department of Public Safety published the figures of 405 bodies identified,63 unidentified, and 100 classified as “believed missing” because there was no trace of them ever found. There were also between 3,500 and 4,000 persons injured in the catastrophe. The total property loss was estimated at almost 100 million dollars which

Disasters can occur at any moment, anywhere; financial and human consequences are very difficult to predict. Disasters, over the last century have been increasing at a rapid rate as over 50% of events require Federal assistance. (FEMA, 2014) Federal mitigation plans and programs reduce the impact of a given disaster also with our dependence on taxes, Treasury for relief. Mitigation is the effort to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters. (FEMA, 2014) In order for Mitigation to be effective we need to understand risks, choices, investment, and well-being. Mitigation has extreme value to society in general. It provides safer communities due a reduction in

The disaster in Bhopal, India was the worst industrial disaster ever. The plant where it occurred was Union Carbide, an American owned plant that makes batteries, but to make them they had to first have a chemical known as MIC. That was made in the plant in Bhopal. MIC is volatile, unpredictable and fatal if inhaled. It is one of the most toxic and lethal substances. Regardless, people still wanted to work for the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal because it paid well. However, people who worked at the plant begin to worry about the chemicals and their toxicities.

From an engineering perspective BP, Transocean, and Halliburton adequately analyzed the potential overall impact of many risk factors that were present. Faulty cement work failed to protect and seal off the well. A weakened mixture of mud and seawater decreased the amount of pressure needed to hold the gas back. Lastly a blowout preventer failed to completely shear the drill pipe. According to Mohamed Yunus (n.d.), this is the lethal mechanical combination that caused

The series of ethical issues that took place leading to the disaster are complex, and other factors such as economic and political issues arose after the catastrophe happened. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ethical issues that took place before the disaster happened, and investigate the moral obligations, social responsibility and justice at an individual and organizational level. The ethical dilemma is broken down into three categories, which include the company’s management priority to reduce costs and time, neglecting safety issues addressed by staff, human misjudgment and errors in neglecting pressure reading; and finally, overlooking the technical design flaws that were not tested by BP before installing to use. The

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.