Background Information:
Union Carbide Corporation is a corporation or a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical; it is the producer of chemicals and polymers that undergo more than one conversion before it reaches the consumers. The company employs over 2400 people. The markets that are served by these products include paints and coatings, packaging, cable and wire, household products, personal care, automotive, textiles, agriculture, oil, gas and pharmaceuticals. The Union Carbide Corporation is a earlier constituent of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The company had found a cost-effective way to produce ethylene from naturally found gas and liquids, such as propane and ethane. This gave birth to a new era of modern petrochemical industry. The company was founded in 1917. Products like Eveready and Energizer batteries, Simoniz car wax, Prestone antifreeze, Glad bags etc. were also owned by these chemicals giants.
The Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation formed in 1917 with the merger of the former Union Carbide and National Carbon Company. The company was recognized for its manufacturing of carbon rods which are used for electrodes and arc lights for electric arc furnaces. It also produces aluminum. Companies like Linde Air Products, merged with United Carbide as the maker of liquid oxygen, Prest-O-Lite which was the manufacturer of chemicals like calcium carbide, and other companies like Electro Metallurgical. In the year 1920 a chemical division was set up by the company. This division manufactured glycol for use as antifreeze for automobiles. Procurement related to the chemical producers, for example, the Bakelite Corporation had become a division in 1939. The company renamed itself to The Union Carbide Corporation in the year 1957 and is mostly recognized by people as Carbide.
Union Carbide Corporation is infamous for the notorious Bhopal Gas Tragedy that happened in 1984 as a result of a major toxic gas leak ragging havoc in the entire city of Bhopal and taking the lives of over 3000 people and injuring 400,000 others in the residential area. Bhopal disaster is marked in the history of industrial hazards because of the deadening effects it had over the entire city and innumerable lives that were taken by it. A gust of poisonous air consuming each man in their sleep and choking them to death. The ghastly nature of the accident was disastrous.
The gas in Bhopal happened at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Madhya Pradesh. On the night of December 3rd 1984, methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas accidentally released from the plant, and it exposed the lives of more than 400,000 people to the harmful MIC and other deadly chemicals. The Madhya Pradesh government had finally established a final count of 3,787 deaths related to the disaster at Bhopal with an estimate of 40,000 individuals suffering permanent damage. They were people who were disabled, or suffering from serious illness, or maimed making it one of the world's tragic industrial disasters in history. Union Carbide was taken into court and prosecuted and taken into court by the Government of India and they agreed to an out-of-court settlement which amounted to around US$470 million in 1989.
Mechanism:
Exposure to MIC even in a very small quantity is extremely dangerous to heath as it is one of the most fatal substance. Large amount of the MIC gas were stored in many steel tanks at the plant at Bhopal Gas. The tank had a variety of safety features to maintain the safety of the substance and productivity of the products.A pesticide plant in India produced the as compound Methyl IsoCyanate (MIC) as an intermediate product in the process. The means to cut expenses meant that most of these safety features were abandoned to save money. Water, naturally entered the storage tank causing an exothermic, runaway reaction to occur. This resulted in the MIC to boil and MIC vapors were ejected through the bursting disc vent. As the flare stack and scrubber were dysfunctional, the MIC vapor was directly leaked through and discharged directly to atmosphere. The wind carried over to the adjacent city of Bhopal and thereby caused a ghastly catastrophe.
Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) CH3NCO
The Molecular Weight of M = 57
The Boiling Point at atmospheric pressure is b.p. = 39 C
It is a highly volatile liquid, which is colorless. Its vapor pressure is twice that of air.
MIC is a toxic gas that attacks the skin, respiratory systems, eyes and internal organs. It is absolutely lethal even more than Chlorine or Phosgene.
MIC is unstable and volatile and thereby lethal. At a higher temperatures MIC can breakdown exothermically to give out large amounts of heat and must be handled safely by maintaining it at about 0 C.
Methylamine (1) reacts with phosgene (2) produces methyl Isocyanate (3) which thereafter reacts with 1-naphthol (4) to yield carbaryl (5)
Reversible response of glutathione (top) with methyl Isocyanate (MIC, middle) permits the MIC to be shifted into the body.
Environmental Consequences in Bhopal:
The factors that contributed to this catastrophic gas disaster in the history of industrial hazards was a result of overstoring MIC in large tanks, lack of maintenance and safety systems being switched off in order to cut short the expense. The lack of a disaster management plan and over populating the industrial zone with slums also leads to a disastrous outcome. The production of other dangerous pesticides and plant management deficiencies too lead to making Bhopal Gas Tragedy a apocalyptic event.
The initial effect of the dreaded Bhopal Gas Disaster was people choking in their sleeps. Thousands of people were caught in the bouts of coughing and vomiting spree, severe eye irritation and suffocation followed next. People who ran ended up inhaling more of the poisonous air. Many thousands were trampled to death. Children too fell prey to the havoc air. The catastrophic event succumbed thousands of people in the lap of death by the morning. And those that were not dead were exposed to a lifelong of slow poisonous death. The trees yellowed and carcasses of animals piled up all over the vicinity. The driver banks of Narmada became a dump yard for thousands of victims that lost their lives. The entire city became barren because of this catastrophic disaster. There were people complaining of acute burning sensation the respiratory tract and in their eyes. There were complaints of breathlessness, blepharospasm followed by stomach ache and vomiting. Thousands of people succumbed to death due to choking or pulmonary oedema or reflexogenic circulatory collapse. Postmortems revealed changes not only in the lungs of the victims but also cerebral oedema, fatty degeneration of the liver and necrotizing enteritis tubular necrosis of the kidneys. The percentage rate for stillbirth increased by up to 300% and neonatal mortality rate by around 200%.
Maps and Schematics
Emergency planning
The incident of Bhopal gas disaster had its aftermaths; the Factories Act has been changed and amended. A new chapter i.e. Chapter IVA which had provisions relating to the numerous processes of factories and other hazardous activities had been presented to the Factories Act with new addition of provisions which are sec 41A, 41B, 41C, 41D, 41E, 41G & 41H which covers all dangerous processes in industries. In the provision of Section 41B(4) all the inhabitant and company owning the factory will with the provision of the Chief Inspector of Factories drawn an On-site Emergency Plan and have thorough disaster control measures and techniques for his factory and make it recognized among the workers employed therein and to the general public living in the vicinity of the factory. This was laid down in the planning for On-site Emergency Plan to regulate disasters and hazards in the factories. Major accidents can cause great and adverse affects on production and a huge damage to plant, property and bring harm to the people. Many major disasters like that of the Bhopal gas tragedy, Chernobyl nuclear disaster etc. has resulted in heavy loss of life and property. So such kind of incidence and situations should be taken into consideration from before and proper planning should be done beforehand to make sure people are able to tackle such a situation immediately and control them.
In 1984, under the Supreme Court’s direction, in the event of M/S. Sriram Fertilizers and Foods, the Administration of India had made significant changes to the Factories Act 1948 in the year 1987 with superior provisions relating to hazardous processes in factories. Under the Section number 41(B)(4) every inhabitant is to make On-site Emergency Plans and thorough disaster control measures for his factory. Rule 13 of the Storage, Import and Manufacture of Hazardous Chemicals Rules 1989- which declares that the inhabitant shall make and keep up to date an On-site Emergency plan containing details how minor and major accidents will be dealt with on the site on which the industrial activity is carried on and that the plan will contain the names of the people who are accountable for the safety on and off the site and names of those who are authorized to take action in agreement with the plan in case of a disaster.
Risk Analysis:
Using the fault tree analysis (FTA), it can help in identifying what could be the lessons learned from this dreadful incident and to prove that it was indeed ‘an accident that was waiting to happen’, by –
Figuring out the cases of the failure from operations and design perspective Recognizing the major and minor significances of the failure – then and today.
Using a Reliability Block Diagram and Fault Tree Analysis to regulate the likelihood of such an incidence happening.
Reconstructing, using the Minimal Cut Set method, a new and improved Fault Tree Analysis.
The company should have set recommendations regarding emergency and contingency planning.
Lessons learnt from the apocalyptic disaster were multifaceted. The supervisors should have been diversely trained into the field. They should have been trained abroad, mainly because if faced with such a catastrophe the American court will take it under them and the company will be ethically bound to help the victims and the blame game would be over and done with.
The company should be a pro in handling political sinister that a country like ours has it engraved within it. To manage the political climate is one the most important responsibilities for the company as successive governments used this tragedy as a political pawn in over throwing incumbent governments. Political instability is a major cause that should be scrutinized. Supervisors should not have shied away from personal responsibilities.
Outreach programs are important in the case of Companies. This should be done in the center of the tragedy. Several outreach programs started by Union Carbide have not been completed. In this day of strong environmental movement, thiswill be duly noted by the environmental groups. The outreach programs shouldbe concurrent with the start of a project.
Supervisors should have multidivisionary authority to impose punishments andhave authority to suspend activity when necessary
Root Cause Analysis uses the FTA and the Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) analysis to determine the causes of such a disaster.
‘It was an accident waiting to happen’, in contrast with the operations of similar plants in the United States and India suggests that the Bhopal plant had been unkempt. Budget cutting measures were introduced at the cost of the safety of the people. Therefore, the value of human life proved to be not a priority in India.
The lies that was told, which are- management at the plant (those who did not die that night) reportedly said that the gas was similar in nature to that of tear gas and that the effects of it would fade away in the matter of a few days and it was seen some twenty years later that the effects are still evident. The Indian Government and Union Carbide Corporation claimed, until 1994, that the gas MIC had no long term effects.
A vast history of events which led up to the occurrence had been abandoned by the Corporation, and till date have not claimed full responsibility for any wrongdoing; nor was there any action taken against the culprits that caused the lives of so many.
There were reports which were issued months before the incident by scientists within Union Carbide Corp. who warned them of the possibility of an accident which was almost identical to the actual disaster. These reports went ignored and never reached the senior staff.
Recommendations:
- Immediately after the accident, the Government established many new hospitals and clinics to tend to the people who were suffering around the gas-affected regions. But in certain areas, there were a shortage of doctors and hence, under qualified doctors were posted there for treating these patients. The Government should have shipped in more qualified doctors from around the country and abroad.
- The doctors that were stationed there did not know how to treat the people who were suffering from the affects of MIC poisoning. The Union Carbide Corp. should have conducted a thorough research about the possible affects if in case a disaster, such as, in this case might occur.
- The Government should have taken some action against the corporation and make take responsibility for their own actions.
- The corporation should take responsibility in compensating the casualties of the accident like proper treatment and opening of more hospitals, clinics and mobile units and also help get them proper food and water, which was very much in need for the survivors.
- After this major chemical spill, the factory was closed, most of it was sold out but certain things that contain the poisonous chemical are still there and continue to contaminate both the water resources and the soil. Major steps have to be taken by the Government to clean and isolate the harmful chemicals from these major resources, so that no further contamination can occur in the future.
- Since the major form of occupation of the people there had been denied off by this unfortunate accident, the Government as well as other private corporations should set up proper alternative means of making a living for these people.
- Proper houses should be set up as well as schools and transportation for the people.
Resources:
http://iris.lib.neu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=willey_process_safety_articles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/gallery/bhopal-gas-tragedy-in-pics/1/3261.html
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Bhopal/Bhopal-gas-tragedy-28-yrs-on-they-are-still-victims/Article1-967354.aspx
http://www.pardaphash.com/news/bhopal-gas-tragedy-city-still-breathes-methyl-isocyanate/700245.html#.UWKy-KIZPUM
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-03-05/news/37470094_1_bhopal-gas-tragedy-rti-act-extradition-requests
http://news.oneindia.in/2013/03/05/centre-declines-to-disclose-info-on-bhopal-gas-tragedy-1164399.html
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bhopal-gas-tragedy-andersons-extradition-pending-with-us-says-cbi/382794-3-236.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster#Long_term_effects
http://www.maintenanceonline.org/maintenanceonline/content_images/Pages%2041,%2042,%2043,%2044,%2045,%2046,%2047.pdf
