Bhopal Gas Tragedy: An Analysis

n Presented By :-
Ø Jenendar .R.Bohra
Ø Ajay .R. Bammankar
Ø Shrikant .S. Kumbhar
Ø Harish .B. Singh


n
Bhopal
Union Carbide Plant , Bhopal
MIC Storage Tank

Leakage
 How It Happens ?
n Inthe early morning hours of
December 3, 1984, a holding tank
with 43 tonnes of stored MIC
overheated and released toxic
heavier-than-air MIC gas mixture,
which rolled along the ground
through the surrounding streets.
The transportation system in the
city collapsed and many people
were trampled trying to escape.
Out Of Service
n According to the Bhopal Medical
Appeal, around 500,000 people
were exposed to the leaking tables.
n Approximately 20,000, to this date,
are believed to have died as a
result; on average, roughly one
person dies every day from the
effects.
n Over 120,000 continue to suffer from
the effects of the disaster, such as
breathing difficulties, cancer,
serious birth-defects, blindness,
gynaecological complications and
other related problems
n According to the report "The Bhopal
Medical Appeal - What Happened in
Bhopal?", It is believed that 50,000
people are unable to work because
of their debilitating ailments.
Consequences
A Man Walking Over Dead Bodies
Effects On Animals
Collecting Dead Bodies
“ A Carbide child whose fate was
sealed inside its mother's womb"
n "Tumhara ladka paida hua hai (you have
a son)," says one nurse as she pats
the child to make him cry. There is no
response. In the dim light, the skin of
the child looks macerated and bluish.
Within minutes, a senior doctor is
called in. He looks down at the curled
figure, asks for the mother's medical
record and scrawls in the column for
details of the birth: "Stillborn boy
weighing four pounds, born to the
mother". Then he rushes out to the
maternity ward to attend to another
patient about to deliver. Outside there
is silence as the father looks
expectantly at the white-clothed
figures washing hands in the waiting
room. Then comes the sound of
weeping from beyond the green
n "Yeh bhi gas kand ka
baccha paida hua hai,
(Here is another child
of the gas tragedy)"
says the nurse as she
shows the father the
shrivelled face of his
newborn.
n With these words, written in July 1985, the
Indian magazine Sunday opened its report on
The Babies of Bhopal, describing the situation
as reporter Ritu Sarin found it, seven months
after "that night". The grief of these parents
was drowned in a universal horror, for
hundreds of parents were to be told "Your
child is another victim of the gas".
n In a sample of 865 women who lived within 1
km of the plant and who were pregnant at the
time of the gas leak,, 43% of the pregnancies
did not result in live births. Of the 486 live
births, 14 percent of babies died in the first
30 days compared to a death rate of 2.6 to 3
percent for previous deliveries in the two
years preceding the accident in the same
 Background and causes
n The chemical accident was caused
by the introduction of water into
methyl isocyanide holding tank
E610, due to slip-blind water
isolation plates being excluded
from an adjacent tank's
maintenance procedure.
n The Union Carbide plant was
established in 1969 and had
expanded to produce carbaryl in
1979; MIC is an intermediate in
carbaryl manufacture.


n The resulting reaction generated a

major increase in the temperature
of liquid inside the tank (to over
200°C).
n The MIC then gave off a large volume
of toxic gas, forcing the emergency
release of pressure.


nA number of background causes

contributed to the explosion and
the disaster’s intensity
 Cost-cutting measures
n A long-term cause of the catastrophe was
the location of the plant; authorities had
tried and failed to persuade Carbide to
build the plant away from densely-
populated areas.
n Carbide explained their refusal on the
expense such a move would incur.
n Union Carbide previously produced their
pesticide, Sevin (the commercial name
of carbaryl), without MIC but, after 1979,
began using MIC because it was
cheaper. Other manufacturers, such as
Bayer, made Sevin without MIC,
although this caused greater expenses.
n
n In the early 1980s, the demand for
pesticides had fallen: the factory
was operating at a loss and
overproducing MIC that was not
being sold, leading to a series of
cost-cutting measures from around
1982 onwards.
n . These measures affected the two
interrelated areas of workers and
their conditions, and the equipment
and safety regulations installed at
the plant
 Work conditions
n Kurzman argues that “cuts… meant
less stringent quality control and
thus looser safety rules. A pipe
leaked? Don’t replace it, employees
said they were told… MIC workers
needed more training? They could
do with less. Promotions were
halted, seriously affecting
employee morale and driving some
of the most skilled… elsewhere
n Workers were forced to use English
manuals, despite the fact that only
a few had a grasp of the language .
n By 1984, only six of the original
twelve operators were still working
with MIC and the number of
supervisory personnel was also cut
in half. No maintenance supervisor
was placed on the night shift and
instrument readings were taken
every two hours, rather than the
previous and required one-hour
readings
n Workers made complaints about the cuts
through their union but were ignored.
One employee was sacked after going
on a 15-day hunger strike. 70% of the
plant’s employees were fined before the
disaster for refusing to deviate from the
proper safety regulations under pressure
from management
n In the words of the International Campaign
for Justice in Bhopal, “poorly trained
personnel, rapid turnover, leaking
valves, shoddy gauges and inadequate
water spray protection were all identified
as representing “a higher potential for a
 Equipment and safety
regulations
n It emerged in 1999, during civil
action suits in India, that, unlike
Union Carbide plants in the USA, its
Indian subsidiary plants were not
prepared for problems. No action
plans had been established to cope
with incidents of this magnitude.
This included not informing local
authorities of the quantities or
dangers of chemicals used and
manufactured at Bhopal
n The MIC tank’s alarms had not worked for
4 years.
n There was only one manual back-up
system, not the four-stage system used
in the USA.
n The flare tower and the vent gas scrubber
had been out of service for 5 months
before the disaster. The gas scrubber
therefore did not attempt to clean
escaping gases with sodium hydroxide
(caustic soda), which may have brought
theconcentration down to a safe level.
Even if the scrubber had been working,
according to Weir, investigations in the
aftermath of the disaster discovered that
the maximum pressure it could handle
was only one-quarter of that which was
present in the accident. Furthermore,
 Aftermath of the explosion
• Though the audible external alarm was
activated to warn the residents of
Bhopal, it was quickly silenced to avoid
causing panic among the residents.
Thus, many continued to sleep, unaware
of the unfolding drama, and those that
had woken assumed any problem had
been sorted out.
• Doctors and hospitals were not informed
of proper treatment methods for MIC gas
inhalation. They were told to simply give
cough medicine and eye-drops to their
patients.
• The recent discovery of documents,
obtained through discovery in the
course of a lawsuit against Union
Carbide, for environmental
contamination before a New York
Federal District Court, revealed that
Carbide had exported "untested,
unproven technology" to the Indian
plant.
n
 Previous warnings and
accidents
n Reports issued months before the incident
by scientists within the Union Carbide
corporation warned of the possibility of
an accident almost identical to that
which occurred in Bhopal. The reports
were ignored and never made it to
senior staff.
n Union Carbide was warned by American
experts who visited the plant after 1981
of the potential of a “runaway reaction”
in the MIC storage tank; local Indian
authorities warned the company of
problems on several occasions from
n 11 of the 30 “major hazards”
documented in a 1982 review
occurred in the MIC and phosgene
units.
n From 1981, inhalation accidents were
reported at the factory. Five
workers were hospitalised in 1982
after a leak of MIC
n An employee was killed in 1981 by a
phosgene leak
n Soon after, 25 workers were injured
after a pump seal failed
 Union Carbide’s defense

n Now owned by
Dow Chemical Company, Union
Carbide denies allegations against
it on its website dedicated to the
tragedy. The corporation believe
that the accident was the result of
sabotage, claiming that safety
systems were in place and
operative. It also stresses that it did
all it could to alleviate
humanitarian suffering following
the disaster. These claims are
 Response

n The company stresses the

“immediate action” taken after the
disaster and their continued
commitment to helping the victims.
On December 4th, the day
following the leak, Union Carbide
sent material aid and several
“international medical experts” to
assist the medical facilities in
Bhopal.
n Carbide put $2 million into the Indian
Prime Minister’s immediate disaster
relief fund on 11th December 1984.
The corporation established the
Employees' Bhopal Relief Fund in
February 1985, which raised more
than $5 million for immediate relief.
n Union Carbide also undertook several
steps to provide continuing aid to
the victims of the Bhopal disaster
after the court ruling, including:
 Legal action against Union
Carbide
n Legalissues began affecting Union
Carbide, the US and Indian
governments, the local authorities
in Bhopal and the victims of the
disaster immediately after the
catastrophe.
Fight for justice
 Legal proceedings leading to
the settlement


n On 14th December 1984,

CEO of Union Carbide,
Warren Anderson,
addressed the US
Congress, stressing the
company’s
“commitment to safety”
and promising “to
ensure that a similar
accident “cannot
happen again””.
However, the Indian
Government passed the
Bhopal Gas Leak Act in
March 1985, allowing
the Government of India
to act as the legal
representative for
Pepole Protesting Against
Andreson
 Charges against Warren
Anderson and others
n Beginning in 1991,
the local
authorities from
Bhopal charged
Warren Anderson
, who had retired
in 1986, with
manslaughter, a
crime that carries
a maximum
penalty of 10
years in prison.
n This factory still stands in Bhopal like a
hoary symbol of the worst tragedy of the
industrial era.
n The Union Carbide factory and the face of
then Union Carbide chairman Warren
Anderson remained etched in the
memory of millions of Indians as
mascots of all that is wrong with
transnational industrial corporations.
n Surrounding the skeletal remains of the
pesticide factory are maimed survivors
of the nuclear winter of what a poet has
called DeathSmog Day.
n After 20 years, there are as many
“ This should not happen again”
As a Chemical Engineer It’s Our
Responsibility
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