On the cold wintry midnight of December 02, 1984, an incident happened in the outskirts of Bhopal, the capital city of the largest Indian state of Madhya Pradesh (MP). This has been called the worst industrial accident in the history of mankind. God forbid that we do not have any more of such man made disasters. This company made Pesticides under the brand names SEVIN and TEMIK. Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) is one of the main ingredients used in the manufacture of pesticides. MIC is a very dangerous and hazardous chemical compound. MIC reacts with various compounds having Hydrogen atoms, which makes it a chemical intermediate, but very tricky to handle. The reactions are also exothermic (generate internal heat) and this further accelerates the process. One of the workers noticed that the stainless steel tanks holding 45 tons of MIC was building pressure and very soon the workers were not able to contain it, panicked and fled from the plant. The back up and safety systems failed completely. The gas spread slowly and because of high pollution and smoggy conditions, the possibility of it being swept away by winds became less. Exposure to MIC leads to death similar to drowning. The lungs get filled with water. About 3500 people died and 150,000 hospitalized. We have deaths reported even today due to long term effects of MIC on people. No agency in India was prepared or trained to handle disasters of this magnitude.
The plant was built in 1969 and was identical to the plant in West Virginia, USA. MIC was stored in three double walled stainless steel storage tanks, refrigerated and buried underground. They were also equipped with valves, thermostats and other safety devices like a scrubber to treat the escaping gas with caustic soda and another mechanism called the flare tower to ignite the escaping gas. On the fateful day none of these safety devices worked. No one knows when they were tested and maintained. Subsequent investigations by engineers, scientists of Union Carbide and other investigating agencies came out with the statement that the plant should not have been operating. In 1975, the then Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Bhopal objected to having the dangerous plant so close to the heavily populated city. He was removed from the post. This is very common in India. Honest people get removed or eliminated by the corrupt system.
One of the reasons that the gas was generated was because of large amounts of water entered the tanks containing MIC. This is highly dangerous as water sets of a reaction. Later it was found that there were two pipelines one marked "Water" and other "Nitrogen". The possibility of someone opening the wrong valve and releasing the water into the tanks existed. This is the reason we use color codes for pipes in process plants. When you have pipelines all over the place, it can be very confusing. Do not forget it was night time and very cold. Human beings will be human beings. I would not like to go out looking for pipes and valves at such a time. I would rather be under a warm blanket. You will have them jammed any way as somebody forgot to grease or lubricate the valves. You have to make the safety systems idiot proof.
Some people came up with internal sabotage theory. Knowing the average workers psyche, I can confidently say that, no worker anywhere in the world will do something that will endanger his own and other's lives. They may do something wrong and foolish, because of ignorance, but never deliberately.
The Legal Wrangle:
After the initial global shock, the "Ambulance Chasers" went into action. The then Chairman & CEO of Union Carbide, Mr. Warren Anderson was foolishly arrested by the local authorities when he visited Bhopal immediately after the disaster. The Indian unit was managed by an Indian Managing Director under the supervision of the board of directors based in Bombay. A class action suit was filed by some American lawyers in a US court claiming USD 15 billion in damages. I doubt whether the total annual income of GOI was anywhere near it at that time. The GOI also joined the battle and it filed a case in New York. The US Judge dismissed the cases and ruled that the case had to be filed in India. The Indian Supreme Court came in and after number of years of legal wrangle arrived at a settlement of USD 650 million approximately. Union Carbide could not survive this loss and was taken over by another giant TNC.
What are the ethical and legal issues involved in this case ? Please send your comments to madhavan@mmg.name and we will publish the best one in this page.
This is an abridged version of the article first published on July 31, 2004.
Copyright. September 2007. www.madgopes.com . All rights reserved.
Business Ethics Technological Environment Indias Night of Death Union Carbide Case Bhopal India - To learn more about this author, visit Madhavan T Gopalachary's Website.
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Madhavan T Gopalachary
(Visit Madhavan's Website)
Madhavan Gopalachary, nick name "madgopes"
(g pronounced as in go) given by IIT
classmates, is a Mechanical Engineer and
an alumnus of Indian Institute of
Technology, Madras having passed out
specializing in IC Engines &
Thermodynamics.
He has nearly 35 years of experience in
the Corporate World. He started off as a
trainee and handled sales, marketing,
manufacturing, product management, profit
center management, strategic planning and
corporate development including R & D in
various organizations and at various
levels before becoming a CEO. His last two
professional assignments were at CEO level
before embarking to start management
consultancy business on January 01, 1998.
He has worked for British, Swedish MNCs as
well as very large Indian business houses.
He has spent a large portion of his time
from June 1998 till date in East African
Countries practicing as an independent
Management Consultant.
More details can be obtained at the
following web sites:
mmg.name/
mtg.html
mmgconsu
lting.biz/
Madhavan's articles can be accessed at www.madgopes.com
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