The Bhopal Tragedy Of Bhopal

The assigned readings for Unit 2 (Chapters 2, 3 and 6) cover the effects of workplace accidents, accident theories, and workers’ compensation. In professional safety practice, the topics covered in this unit generally include a discussion of “safety metrics”. Measuring safety performance is a mixed bag of calculating and reviewing data associated with “lagging indicators” and “leading indicators”. By definition, lagging indicators are “output” oriented, easy to measure and calculate, but not improvable since they are measures of what already occurred (i.e., losses in the form of accidents, property damage, or loss of life). In contrast, leading indicators are “input” oriented and represent preventative measures taken to improve overall safety and reduce the occurrence of incidents and injuries.

Death is considered a short-term effect. David (2002) believes they were roughly 7000 death cases at Bhopal. Baines (1993) mentioned other short-term effects at Bhopal such as difficulty and eye irritation. Similar symptoms appeared on Seveso survivors. Added to this, Shrivastava (1996) points out that people exposed to the released gas had some other short-effects such as cough, vomiting and chest pains. Long-term effects at Bhopal mainly were eye-sight weakness and high possibility of getting different kinds of Cancer. No long-term effects are in detail in “The long road to recovery”, (B. De Marchi, S. Funtowicz, and J. Ravetz 1996), neither in “Environmental Disasters”, (Baines 1993).

According to the Bureau of Labor, statistics indicate that more than 4.1 million people were hurt or injured on-the-job in 2006 and 5,488 were killed in 2007 (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010, p. 511). Laws and regulatory requirements are currently in place to standardize and promote workplace safety. Organizations with extensive safety programs have reduced number of accidents, decreased workers’ compensation claims and lawsuits and lesser accident-related expenditures (Gomez-Mejia, et al, 2010, p. 511). This paper discusses the effects of legal, safety and regulatory requirements in

What’s important to examine is that before the Triangle Factory Fire is that that casualties from unsafe conditions were reported and expressed as a concern before. Where was the outrage that pushed for safer working conditions? The answer to that is that there were many times that people were upset with such conditions.

Throughout history, there has been a multitude of events that have helped shape the Occupational Safety and Health doctrines that we have today. Some events have had small impacts, and others have totally reshaped how an entire industry operates. Although there are many incidents that we can talk about, we are going to focus on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Within this subject, we will talk about the specific events that happened, what safety standards existed and what standards were penned because of the incident, and how the existing safety standards keep a similar tragedy from happening in the current era. With all of this information, we will have a better picture of how the world of Occupational Safety and Health evolves throughout

Many employees have stated that their workplace environments are harmful and unsafe. Employee fatigue, long working hours and the hiring of inexperienced labor have not only led to hundreds of injuries over the last decade but also hundreds of deaths. The Texas City, Texas plant is just one of many in which such “life or death” occurrences have impacted the safety of employees. In 2005 an explosion that killed 15 people has been said to have occurred due to employee fatigue after being forced to work long hours that ultimately contributed to employees making bad decisions.

Many changes have occurred since the 1992 convention in Minamata, Japan. The world has recognized a need for an anticipatory approach to manage industrial disasters. In the US the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has tried to improve and anticipate the industrial safety of chemical facilities. In response to the Bhopal, India tragedy the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA) section 112(r) requires the EPA to publish the Risk Management Plan (RMP) regulations. Part of the CAAA mandated that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) create the Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals 29 CFR 1910.119 standard. These regulations require hazard assessments, chemical release prevention programs, and emergency response preparedness (Environmental Protection Agency, 2009).

The Triangle was undoubtedly one of the most tragic events in the worlds history. The not only is the fire a horrifying event, but the factory had no safety precautions and didn’t have any emergency exits and kept doors locked. Not only did this strike sorrow on the community, but it awakened people to realize that workplace safety is a serious thing and needs to be practiced.

Just after midnight on December 3, 1984, a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India had a chemical leak accident. The chemical that was released into the air is called methyl isocyanate, or MIC, used to make pesticides. This chemical is tremendously harmful and fatal to humans, livestock, and crops. Only a short-term exposure may cause death or unfavorable health effects. The slums of Bhopal and its residents that surrounded the plant which were mostly affected by the gas suffered dearly. An estimated 8,000 people dead and about 300,000 more suffering from its effects. Bloated carcasses of cattle dotted the streets. Tree and plant leaves were yellow and brittle. "Corpses littered the streets and discovered behind locked doors, trapped in private

A serious workplace injury or death can change lives forever, for families, friends, and the community. On the night of April 2, 2010 a deadly explosion at the Tesoro Refinery in Anacortes, Washington reminded the CSB of the critical and hazardous working conditions in the chemical industry and of the disastrous effects it has. The tragedy was the worst industrial accident to date since the Department of Labor and Industries began enforcing the Washington State Industrial Safety and Health Act, enacted in 1973. (McClary, 2011) Due to a poor safety culture and lack of awareness, the Anacortes Tesoro Refinery jeopardized the lives of its workers and community. As one of the worst incidents to ever occur for Tesoro Corporations, it left a scarring reminder that business isn’t everything.

Although the government alleges that workplace safety has improved, the number of workplace deaths has been increasing over the years. Mr. Andrew Kim said, “the frequent occurrence of serious accidents that claim hundreds of lives in China has aroused the concern of both the public and the government” (Kim). Many believe that rapid

This report has multiple strengths. One such strength is that the report is made to be as accessible as possible, illustrated by “Acronyms and Abbreviations” section. By adding this section, readers can constantly refer back to it when they encounter an abbreviation they do not understand. The report also gives a thorough background of all subjects involved with this incident, including the company and the factory involved in the accident. Specifically, much information is given about parts of the facility, as well as the emergency response. The incident analysis itself was strong and gave insight about how this accident may have happened, along with plenty of evidence. The recommendations are strong and provide sensible strategies to avoid

In the past (even after introduction of HSWA in Great Britain and similar acts abroad) many accidents have occurred due to the Health and Safety rules not being followed or neglected (e.g. Bhopal Disaster, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster).

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 blame game then started about the factory maintenance. It was said that the factory was not safe and no maintenance was done on time. The workers were not given proper training and the safety officers were also absent on the night of tragedy. The gas tragedy occurred due to the total negligence and lack of maintenance. Another controversy linked with the gas tragedy is that a