Complete APA format

The Bhopal Disaster: could it have been foreseen?

On Dec 2, 1984, a major industrial accident occurred at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. The plant was involved in the manufacture of pesticides and the facility contained many types of toxic chemicals and solvents. When the accident happened during midday, it immediately released nearly 30 tons of methyl isocyanate, which is one of the most poisonous chemicals known to mankind. In addition, there was release of many other gases, many of which were just as dangerous as methyl isocyanate. The Union Carbide plant was located just on the periphery of the town but surrounded by villages and shantytowns. When the explosion occurred, it immediately affected 600,000 people. The sky was covered with the deadly gases for most of that day and night. Because of the intense pollution in India, the poisonous gases remained low and did not dissipate. Because the gas was low lying, it led to severe injuries such as burning eyes, inability to swallow, stinging sensation on the skin and severe pain. It is estimated that nearly 16,000 people died, of which 8,000 died right away. However, most experts in toxicology believe this is an underestimate because the Government of India has not released the real figures because of the embarrassment caused by the diaster. What is also not mentioned is that thousands of animals also perished from these poisoning gases. Because of lack of fire fighting equipment, personal protective equipment and masks, thousands of people in the area remained exposed to the poisonous gases for days. Even the workers at the plant had no protection (Taylor, 2014).

Over the next 2 decades, countless infants were born and found to have severe physical deformities and many were mentally disabled. In 2006, more data came to light indicating that the accident injured over 558,000 people including thousands who developed permanent disabling injuries. How many people have died directly as the result of the accident has never been studied. It took at least 18 more years to clean up the area. But in 2002, things got even worse. Dow Chemical who owned Union Carbide simply buried the material underground. Reports began to appear that the entire area around Bhopal is now contaminated and sporadic reports of leaching continue to occur. So far, there has been no epidemiological study to determine what effect this tragedy has been on future generations. More importantly the status of the drinking water and the ecosystem remains unanswered (Howard, 2013).

The cause of the Bhopal disaster has never been discovered but workers state that the leadership was weak and never maintained the plant. It is believed that failure to maintain a pipe carrying water to cool the furnace triggered the disaster. Union Carbide claims that this was sabotage and not an accident because of disgruntled workers. In the end, Union Carbide paid out close to $907 dollars to settle the cases as a result of litigation, but civil and criminal cases still continue today (Taylor, 2014).

The lessons learnt from the Bhopal disaster reveal two major failings: 1) corporate negligence and 2) a work environment of disenchantment. Outside experts have gone even further asking how such a dangerous plant could be operating in the middle of a large city surrounded by hundred of thousands of people. How could the government have allowed such a plant to operate in the vicinity of a large population? Many negative aspects of the leadership were identified during the ensuing years such as 1) lack of skilled workers 2) poor maintenance 3) lack of training of workers 4) cutting corners to save money 5) switching off safety systems to save money 6) no worker participation 7) lack of safety drills 8) no worker education on the materials and safety 9) failing to provide safety gear to workers and 10) inadequate emergency action plans. The workers have always claimed that they were 1) paid poorly 2) had no responsibility and 3) because the plant was deemed toxic, the company hired anyone who walked into the office. In addition, it became evident that all the years that the plant operated it had simply been dumping the waste in the surrounding areas without any concern for the people or the environment.

As a result of Wikileaks in 2012 it also became known that Dow Chemical had engaged in spying on the public and activists involved in the Bhopal disaster. The reason was to determine what the activists were investigating and what else they had discovered. Dow Chemical did not want any spend any more on litigation, and surprisingly the Indian government agreed with the company (TNN, 2012).

References

Howard S. Bhopal's legacy: three decades on and residents are still being poisoned. BMJ. 2014 Dec 11;349:g7602 Indian J Med Res. 2013;138:270-2.

Taylor, A. (2014). Bhopal: The World's Worst Industrial Disaster, 30 Years Later. http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/12/bhopal-the-worlds-worst-industrial-disaster-30-years-later/100864/

TNN (2012). Stratfor was Dow’s Bhopal spy: WikiLeaks. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Stratfor-was-Dows-Bhopal-spy-WikiLeaks/articleshow/12062587.cms