Bhopal Accident and How Issues That Resulted from It Can Be Avoided in Future - Case Study Example

Bhopal accident and how issues that resulted from it can be avoided in future Planning Brain storming Introduction Employee issues Safety issues Environmental issues Professional misconduct Corruption Human rights Public good Resources Recommendations to avoid future industrial accidents Brainstorming What did Bhopal accident entail? What was the contribution of issues affecting employees of Union Carbide Corporation to the occurrence of the accident? Were safety measures at the plant compromised prior to occurrence of the accident? What was environmental effect of the accident? Did the firm’s officials involved in professional misconduct following the accident? Was the firm’s management involved in corruption in order to conceal the truth about the accident? Were human rights violated by the firm during the accident? Did the management of the firm act in a manner that could promote public good of the firm? Did the firm have in place enough resources that could have prevented the occurrence of the accident? How could one ensure that such an incident never occur again? Introduction Bhopal accident was the worst industrial accident, which occurred in December 1984 in Bhopal, India. The accident involved accidental release of methyl isocyanate gas that is highly toxic at the Union Carbide Corporation (Alavudeen, Rahman and Jayakumaran 67). It was alarming to hear the comments of the works manager at the Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant that they had the best safety measures in the country just four hours after the accident occurred. This comment came in spite thousands of people lying dead or dying just a hundred yards away from his office. Other people were being crippled for life as he made this comment. Many people awoke in terror after finding themselves surrounded by dense poison clouds (Jasanoff 62). No direction, help, guidance, or support was provided to the victims by either the Union Carbide or the local authorities during the period of the accident and days that followed. Furthermore, victims have been involved in fight for justice for many years with little or no justice, recognition and support from the Indian government. Many people continue to suffer today from chronic illnesses as a result of the accident. In addition, the poisonous content of the gas persists in the soil and water in addition to breast milk. There has been a rise in congenital problems and cancers among children born to parents who were exposed to the toxic gas. Employment issues It is argued by Union Carbide owners that the cause of the accident was due to disgruntled worker or due to negligent employees. The Union Carbide Corporation maintains that the accident was caused by a disgruntled employee who introduced a large volume of water by connecting a water horse directly to the tank. The personnel management in any firm is expected to address the needs of all its employees. Adoptions of strategies of human resource management that motivates and allows innovation among employees are usually encouraged (Alavudeen, Rahman and Jayakumaran 77). It seems that the personnel management of the Union Carbide was autocratic and hence the plight of the employees was ignored and production capability of the employees was emphasized at the expense of the needs of the employees. This because where proper human resource management strategies are in existence no employee will be disgruntled or be negligent (Kizza 43). Even if this occurs, the employee will be willing to air his frustration to the management where communication is encouraged instead of being involved in sabotage activities. In view of this, it seems Union Carbide had no proper ways of handling employment issues if the cause the accident was due to disgruntled employees. Therefore, we can say that inefficient human resource management was the cause of the accident since if it were efficient and effective then the issues related to dissatisfaction of the employees could not have arisen. The company strived to cut its expenses by laying off several employees some days before the accident took place. This resulted reduced stringent quality control and consequently safety rules became loose (Alavudeen, Rahman and Jayakumaran 87). Employees were advised not to make any repairs. Little training of employees took place at the firm and few or no promotions were undertaken. This had negative impact on the morale of the employees and many skilled employees left the firm. The employees at the firm were also forced to use manuals written in English yet many of them had little or no grasp of the language. By the time the accident occurred, only six operators out of the original twelve were still at the firm. The employees in the level of supervisors were also cut by half. The firm did not have any supervisor in the position of maintenance during the night shift. Complaints of workers through workers union were ignored by the management. More than 70% employees at the firm were fined for refusing to relent their position proper safety regulations. The firm also had serious communication and management problems prior to occurrence of the accident. Safety issues The responsibility for safety in any firm is the mandate of the management. It is the management to bear any responsibility for major accidents and disaster within its business. The management ought to have knowledge concerning the control, design and operation (Alavudeen, Rahman and Jayakumaran 87). The management is expected to equip all employees in a firm with necessary skills that can enable them to improvise in case of crucial or possibly dangerous situations. This was not the case at Union Carbide plant. If correct safety measures were in place at the plant, the leakage could have been prevented even if the cause of the leakage was a result of sabotage. Experts argue that one of the key factors that contributed to the occurrence of the Bhopal disaster was blind technology transfer. This implies that a technological chemical process factory was established in a technologically slow society (Bryan 59). The experts argue that the establishment of Union Carbide in Bhopal was done in a society that has no experience in the appropriate levels of technological evolution. It is further argued that the establishment was done based on economic interest by the government of India notwithstanding the fact that the community had no comprehension of the technological components of the plant. This blind technology transfer could explain the carelessness in the design and construction of the plant. This raises ethical questions within the chemical process industry of the plant and disregards the theory of the Union that the accident occurred because of sabotage or lack of ability (Chaturvedi 167). This also provides an explanation as to why the Indian government continues siding with the firm in spite the atrocity commit to its people. This action of the government has hindered technological evolution in Bhopal and instead allowed toxicological revolution and resentful feelings toward government involvement. Environmental issues Environmental effects of the leakage were experienced within a few days of the occurrence of the accident. Trees were damaged by the leakage with many of them having their leaves falling off. The environmental and toxicological problems associated with the 1984 Bhopal accident are still being witnessed today (Bryan 56). The conspicuous absence of political will by the Indian government has derailed any efforts to clean up toxic wastes that emanated from the disaster and hence they continue being seen in the environment. The persistent of benzene hexachloride and mercury in the soil continues to contaminate water in the region. As a result, many people have continued to suffer from cancer diseases, which affect the liver, the central nervous system and the liver. Following the accident, the operation of the firm in Bhopal was discontinued by the company without cleaning up industrial site (Alavudeen, Rahman and Jayakumaran 97). This has resulted in continued leakage of several toxic heavy metals and chemicals some of which have found their way into local aquifers. This has resulted in contamination of water in the region. This led to declaration by the municipal authorities that the water was unfit for drinking. Professional misconduct Concerted efforts to spread the message of disinformation were made by the Union Carbide Company. It was suggested that MIC is rapidly broken down to less poisonous methylamine on contact with aqueous surfaces and that the MIC does not enter the blood of the victims by crossing the alveolar capillary barrier. The doctors involved in the diagnosis and studies of the patients did not take any cognizance about the high reactivity and chemical binding of MIC to blood and proteins. Doctors also suggested that acute anoxia and pulmonary edema were short lived, that they could be corrected within a short time, and that the fluid would be reabsorbed. The adverse effects of the highly reactive chemical were ignored by both Indian scientists and the company professionals hired to study the effects of the gas leaks (Kizza 65). The presidential oration of 1985 in the session of Indian Science Congress suggested that the edema would disappear by itself. The company also hired international scientific opinions to belittle toxicological studies pertaining cyanide toxicity studies that were ongoing. The rapid binding with MIC was ignored by both the scientific and media community. Thus, following the disaster of the gas leaks at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, the scientific professional and the management of the company adopted deception to protect economic interests of the company (Bryan 44). In addition, the media was also involved in promoting the propaganda by depicting the gas leaks as something that had little long-term effect. This indeed was one of the greatest professional misconduct among the scientific, media and management community. The United Carbide Corporation has made many attempts to manipulate, withhold and obfuscate any scientific data that has resulted in more suffering to the victims of the tragedy. Until now, the company has not outlined the contents of the gas that leaked during that accident (Chaturvedi 103). After the accident, the company recommended use of sodium thiosulphate, which is used as an effective therapy for cyanide poisoning. However, on realizing that the company would be charged for releasing gas that has Cyanide, the company withdrew the statement, which elicited suggestions that it was trying to cover up presence of HCN in the gas that leaked. The company denied presence of HCN even when this was confirmed by some scientist. The denial made many victims not to receive appropriate treatment and hence their sufferings were augmented. Corruption Even though the government provides some funds to the treatment and research to the treatment of victims of the accidents, no substantial research is being undertaken to understand the treatment of ailments resulting from the accident (Alavudeen, Rahman and Jayakumaran 91). Hospitals that have been built remain with inadequate equipments with some of them being dysfunctional. Many of these resources have been misappropriated in corrupt deals and all the financial expenditures used in provision of relief and rehabilitation to victims of the accidents cannot be accounted for. Human rights Human rights were violated by the Indian government during and after the occurrence of the accident. Given that, no government institution responded rapidly to aid in rescuing or evacuating people in the neighbourhood of the accident from being exposed to the dangerous gas indicates that the government did not value the international human right to life. Many people were left to die from the exposure of the gas without those in need of direction or support on how to react to the incident (Bryan 39). The Indian government also agreed upon a $470 million liability settlement with the plant owners. This was inclusive of all damages. The decision to accept this was based on the fear of economic isolation. The government feared that potential investors and their reactions to the loss of Union Carbide could lead to abandonment of the Indian market. An analysis of the consequences of the accident on human life and the paid settlement shows that around $1000 was paid per person. It was felt among human rights activists that the government decision to accept the 1989 settlement was based more on economic prosperity of the Indian market rather than a social stance that could would protect and compensate the victims. Many people felt that the human element of the disaster was dealt with as casualties at a monetary price. This move by the government put the price on human life and suffering which is one of greatest atrocity committed against human rights following the accident. Public good Documents obtained recently through the process of legal lawsuits against the firm indicate that the company was involved in exportation of untested, unproven technology to the Bhopal plant (Chaturvedi 68). The Bhopal plant differed from its American plants in that it was not prepared for problems. The firm had no mechanisms of coping with problems associated with accidents of such magnitude. The firm also opted to conceal the dangers of the chemicals manufactured and used at Bhopal from the local authority. The audible external alarm at the plant was activated but was immediately silenced. Thus many people continued sleeping unaware of what was going on. Even those who had awoken assumed the problem had been sorted out (Alavudeen, Rahman and Jayakumaran 93). Even though the silencing of the alarm was meant to reduce panic among the residents, the employees could have switched on the alarm again when they realized that the problem was out of control. This could have aided in saving some lives. Since the firm wanted to retain the image of its business, the management concealed vital information that could have aided in saving the lives of victims of the accident. Doctors and hospitals were kept in darkness concerning proper treatment methods for MIC gas inhalation by the firm’s authority. The firm management just advised hospitals and doctors to give victims cough medicine and eye drops. Thus, the patients were not treated for the poisonous cyanide that was found to one of the contents of the gas that leaked. The firm placed its economical interests ahead of public good. Resources The Union Carbide Corporation plant in Bhopal lacked slip blind plates, which would have aided in the prevention of leakage of water from the pipes into the MIC tanks via valves that were faulty. The cleaning checklist indicated that the installation of these plates was ignored. This implies that safety resources were not put in place at the firm to prevent occurrence of any accident. The company had inadequate or faulty equipments prior to the occurrence of the tragedy. Prior to occurrence of the accident, the operation management disabled MIC tank refrigeration unit based on saving money. In addition, some of the coolants of the refrigeration units were being used elsewhere. This shows that the resources at the plant were inadequate and that economic perspective of the firm was emphasized at the expense of safety issues. In addition, instead of the gas scrubber being used to clean escaping gases, it was placed on standby (Alavudeen, Rahman and Jayakumaran 102). Thus, escaping gases were not cleaned and hence the concentration of poisonous gases in the leaking gas remained high. Moreover, the design of water curtain that could have reduced the concentration of the leaking gas was poor and could not reach the gas and its design could not contain leakage of such magnitude. The plant had flare tower that was not functional prior to the incident. This tower helps in burning gases before they can escape into the air. Even though the firm had resourceful scientists, the firm management ignored their advice (Maczulak 67). Prior to occurrence of the accident, scientists within Union Carbide corporation had warned of the possible occurrence of an accident almost identical to the one witnessed at the Bhopal plant. However, this report was ignored and was never submitted to senior management staff for deliberation (Bryan 36). This implies that the firm did not utilize its human resources effectively and efficiently. Moreover, the firm had inadequate human resources. Prior to occurrence of the accident, many employees had been laid off due to falling sales of the firm. This resulted in decreased and infrequent safety checks. This could have culminated in the occurrence of the accident. Recommendations to avoid future industrial accidents Human resources management of any firm is charged with acquisition and development of labor. An effective human resources strategy can result in motivation of employees and open up communication networks within the firm. Furthermore, the employees concern is usually taken seriously by the firm’s management. Such HRM practice allows employee involvement in decision-making process. From our discussion, it is apparent that the employee issues were violated. Little or no training was offered to the employees. The firm’s management compromised workplace safety issues of the workers and even those who opposed this were fined or even fired by the management. This could have contributed to massive migration of talented and skilled employees away from Union Carbide corporation plant in Bhopal. The lack of motivation among employees and frustration may have been the cause of the accident if at all sabotage was the cause. To avoid future occurrence of such accident resulting from sabotage firms ought to have in place a HRM strategy that values its employees. Employees ought to be involved in decision-making process and be motivated through promotions to increase loyalty of employees to the firm. Such strategy will ensure that the labor of the firm is well developed and trained to react to any emergencies appropriately. The management of any firm is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the activities of the firm are safe to both the employees and the public. This helps in promoting the public image of the firm. It is upon the management to understand how the plant is controlled, designed and operated in order to for them to implement necessary safety measures. The management also need to ensure that supervision and safety checks are carried out regularly and that the needed safety equipments are in operation at all times (Alavudeen, Rahman and Jayakumaran 56). Risk analysis of the firm’s activities ought to be carried out on regular basis to detect any risks that the firm may be posing to public or to its employees and necessary precautionary measures undertaken. By instilling these measures, firms can avoid the occurrence of accidents like the one that rocked Bhopal plant (Bryan 34). In addition, before constructing a chemical plant in a certain region need to ensure that the society has the necessary technological knowledge that matches the technology being established in their environments so as they can be able to react to emergencies appropriately in case of an accident. Chemical firms need to take environmental measures that can avoid long-term effect on the life of these staying in its environment. In case of accidental leakage of chemicals in the environment, the firm ought to ensure that the chemicals are fully removed from the environment (Kasperson and Kasperson 78). This can reduce toxicological problems that may result from such leakages. In case the firm wants to stop its activities in a certain region it should ensure that it cleans up all chemicals from the environment before quitting the site. It is easier and less costly when the firm takes responsibility of its actions and reveals the truth about its undertakings. Deception of the firm to the public to maintain reputation of the firm only comes to harm the firm badly when the truth is finally exposed. Thus, the firm’s management need to act professionally and avoid any acts of deceptions and propaganda. Professional involved in addressing accidents such as investigators, doctors and media fraternity need to act professionally in order for the solution to be arrived at on time and appropriately. To cut down corrupt deals related to funds meant for relief and rehabilitation of the victims of an industrial accident the government ought to set up a national commission to guide expenditure of such funds (Gupta 88). The commission ought to be composed of both non-government experts and representatives of the victims to avoid corrupt deals. To avoid violation of human rights in case of an accident the management of chemical plants ought to have prior plans with rescue and safety firms to aid in evacuation and first aid administration to victims of such accidents. Firms also need to carry out frequent drills with community to ensure that they are prepared to react to any emergency (Alavudeen, Rahman and Jayakumaran 99). Governments need to put the interests of their people first before economic interests to avoid violation of human rights by international firms. During compensation of victims of accidents firms ought to discuss with victims representatives in addition to government and not only the government which as seen in the case of Bhopal, the government had economical interests at heart instead of the victims interests. Before employing any new technology, firms need to ensure that the safety of the technology is tested and proven to have limited risk to the public (Chaturvedi 67). This ensures that the firm values public good over the short-term benefits of the new technology. In addition, response to accidents should ensure that the public gets appropriate information that can aid in their evacuation to avoid many casualties from accidents. Firms ought to have adequate human and technological resources that can help to counter any accidents. Well skilled labor and state of art technology can aid in reducing the effect of accidental leakages from chemical firms (Alavudeen, Rahman and Jayakumaran 89). All safety equipments need not to be diverted for other uses and they ought to be inspected on regular basis to detect those that are defective and necessary repair actions taken immediately. Firms also need to respect the advice of professional. If Bhopal plant could have heeded the advice of the scientists and taken appropriate actions the accident could have been minimized or avoided. Conclusion The need to compete in global market made Indian government to act in an ethical way in addressing the Bhopal accident. The human rights of the victims were violated by the firm and much professional misconduct marred the process of revealing the truth about the accident. The firm had inadequate resource in terms of human, physical and technological resources that could have been used in alleviating or addressing the effects of the accident. Many safety issues were ignored by the firm to cut down the cost of running the plant. The problem was compounded by poor human resource management at the firm that resulted in lack of motivation that could have led to sabotage if at all this was the cause of the accident. Environmental effects of the accident continue to exist in the environs of the plant, when its activities stopped no full industrial clean was undertaken, and hence water and soil is polluted by heavy metals and toxic chemicals. The community lacked information and emergency procedures to react to the accident. By implementing recommendations above upcoming firms can be able to avoid such issues. Works Cited Alavudeen, A., Rahman, K., and Jayakumaran, M. Professional Ethics and Human Values. Jakarta: Firewall Media, 2008. Bryan, Nichol. Bhopal: Chemical Plant Accident. London: Gareth Stevens Pub, 2003. Chaturvedi, Pradeep. Occupational Safety, Health & Environment and Sustainable Economic Development. London: Concept Publishing Company, 2007. Gupta Ramesh. Toxicology of Organophosphate and Carbamate Compounds. London: Academic Press, 2006. Jasanoff, Sheila. Learning from Disaster: Risk Management after Bhopal. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994. Kasperson, Jeanne, and Kasperson Roger. The Social Contours of Risk: Risk analysis, corporations and the globalization of risk. New York: Earthscan, 2005. Kizza Joseph. Ethical and Social Issues in the Information Age, 4th Ed. New York: Springer, 2010. Maczulak, Anne. Pollution: Treating Environmental Toxins. London: Infobase Publishing, 2009. Read More