Union Carbide Bhopal Case Study

When a professional alters procedures in the work place for their own benefit they tend to put not only the lives of people at risk but also the quality of life for future generations. We see in the case of Union Carbide Bhopal plant where inconsistency in following procedure of the maintenance of machinery, clouded by making profit, was the core factor in causing one of the world’s greatest industrial disasters.
The chemical reaction to produce MIC was to react methylamine with phosgene. The MIC chemical proved to be lethal and very toxic to human as it can vaporize at body temperature. Which should have left management uneasy because the chemical was produced so close to the highly populated Bhopal and there were no emergency or evacuation plan for the town in case of a disaster. The people had no knowledge of the chemical and were not taught simple survival guides such as staying indoors; covering doors and windows with damp cloths and walking in the opposite direction of the wind of gas. Senior management was rather more concerned about the existence of UCIL and felt

This left the health care overwhelmed because floods of people needed assistance but there was no apparent antidote and the only treatment they could give them with were milk, eggs and eye-drops for eye irritation. Over 8000 people were killed by the cloud of MIC gas and the victims who survived had to suffer from the long-term effects of exposure. The effects were impaired eyesight or blindness, nerve damage, gynaecological disorders which led to birth defects, and respiratory issues. They also had to deal with the shortage of food because the water and soil were toxic to the fish and animals such as goats, buffalo died from exposure and had to be buried. Suppliers feared for their safety and were unable to supply the