INTRODUCTION: A curtain of gas rapidly dispersed over Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India without warning, causing hemorrhaging, muscular convulsion and blindness – leaving its victims defecating and urinating in their clothes – wishing for death. In the dark early hours of December 3rd, 1984, children, elderly – men and women of all ages were dying from a poisonous methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas poisoning which treacherously leaked from the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant. The leak of MIC gas and other toxic chemicals resulted in the immediate death of an estimated 3,828 people. By the end of its peregrination the gas leak caused the death of an estimated 15,000 people due to the poor condition of the valves and lines in the plant; namely the failure of Tank 610 that contained 42 tons of MIC – much more than safety rules allowed. This system failure, invoked India to take action early on by arresting those they felt should be held responsible. They also provided medical aid for victims, started up an investigation and took the case to the Supreme Court where a settlement was made. Furthermore, there were many efforts to clean up the area and dispose of the contaminants plaguing Bhopal and to warn the populace of the potential hazards and dangers in surrounding areas and in the water supply. The United States and India were not the only countries taking action; Canada, too, responded to Bhopal by creating the Major Industrial Accident Council of Canada (MIACC) in 1987. The world is affected by the cataclysm until this day and rigorous time and effort has been dedicated to finding the causes and potential solutions to these atrocious malfunctions. Though peace may never be attained by those touched by this devastation; the ... ... middle of paper ... ...sociated. "Seven Convicted over 1984 Bhopal Gas Disaster | Environment | Guardian.co.uk." Latest News, Sport and Comment from the Guardian | The Guardian. © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or Its Affiliated Companies., 7 June 2010. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. . "Process Safety Management Guidelines for Compliance." A Canadian Perspective of the History of Process Safety Management Legislation. Murray Macza ACM Automation Inc. – Canada, 2-3 Sept. 2008. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. . Statement of Union Carbide Corporation Regarding the Bhopal Tragedy. Union Carbide Corporation, 2001-2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. . The Uncertain Promise of Law: Lessons from Bhopal p. 19 (1993)
Arnold & Porter chose to sue Pittston rather than the Buffalo Mining Company because the value of the corporation allowed for adequate compensation to the victims. Author and head lawyer for the plaintiffs, Gerald M. Stern, writes that the original goal was sue to sue for $21 million for the disaster to have a material effect on the cooperation (51). To avoid responsibility Pittston attempted to prove that the Buffalo Mining Company was an independent corporation with its own board of directors. The lawyers for the plaintiffs disproved this claim by arguing the Buffalo Mining Company never held formal meetings of the board of directors and was not independent of the parent company. During this case Pittston’s Oil division had applied to build an oil refinery in Maine. The ...
McGuire, C. (2011, April). Workplace Safety 100 Years Ago. Safety Compliance Letter(2524), 1-6. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=60166397&site=ehost-live&scope=site
The disaster which occurred on the 15th of October 1970 and the tragedy of the 35 deaths was utterly unnecessary. That it should have been allowed to happen was inexcusable. There was no sudden onslaught of natural forces, or no sudden failure of new or untested material.
The Air India disaster occurred on July 22nd, 1985. It is believed to be the most serious terrorist act that has ever taken place in Canada, claiming the lives of over three hundred people, most of them Canadian. To the present day, the bombings remain a mystery, with only one person charged in connection with the crime. Almost 15 years after flight 182 plummeted into the Atlantic off the coast of Ireland it continues to be investigated by authorities throughout the world, including the RCMP and CSIS in Canada.
This essay revolves around this incident and BP’s response, and analyses the effectiveness of BP’s crisis communication with relevant theories and concepts in the area of communication management. This essay
Highlighted in their code of conduct, clear and concise internal regulations and expectations concerning operational safety are outlined to provide company-wide compliance (Sustainability Report, 2015). Additionally, these regulations are substantiated by the company’s three levels of verification, which are labeled as self-verification (individual site corroboration), assurance (internal risk assessment team), and audit (independent verification) (Sustainability Report, 2015). While the first two internal systems are vital to the success of the intended safety strategies, the presence of the company’s independent assessment team assures an accurate and non-biased portrayal of compliance information, which validates the company’s transparency efforts. The company’s appointment of Carl Sandlin as their Independent Expert was intended to assist in the implementation of recommendations set out by an internal investigation, which the company has completed 25 out of 26 sanctions (BP, 2012; Sustainability Report, 2015). Moreover, these developments may be a result from past allegations that BP’s auditing systems only accounted for a safety system presence and failed to assess the quality of their structures, verification of correct usage, and system efficiency (Allford & Carson, 2015). Although the cause for these developments resulted from tragic events, these internal improvements provide authenticity to the company’s transparency and create a foundation for company-wide safety compliance in both current and future business endeavors. For example, BP has successfully screened 19 potential projects for their impact on the local communities and environment (Sustainability Report, 2015). However, their ultimate success is derived on their ability
...health problem from oil and BP shareholder lawsuits etc. However, BP didn’t assume responsibility even though the investigation indicated BP had most mistakes. As the firm shirked responsibility with other companies, BP didn’t show an ethical corporate culture. Compared with Enron scandal, BP didn’t do any fraud or false accounting. However, as both of these companies claimed that the company’s conduct code is compliance with government and safety regulations, their company scandals revealed that the company didn’t comply with profession ethics, even the regulations. Against Enron scandal and The BP oil spill, several regulations were published, such as Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Restore Act and so on. These new legislations effectively control the company’s unethical and illegal behavior, also good for the prevention of the similar company scandals’ happen in the future.
Rachel Carson was a zoologist, writer, and an ecologist. She recognized the issues which would prove to have deleterious long-term effects. On 27th September 1962, a book which changed the course of the 'environmental movement' was published. It was lauded by supporters who had witnessed the ill-effects of biocides and those who had amassed similar scientific proof. Both Rachel Carson and her publishers had expected a backlash of criticism which unsurprisingly came from chemical industries like Dupont and American Cyanamid. Soon after the book was published, a Dupont initiative 'Union Carbide' single handedly caused the biggest industrial chemical disaster in Bhopal. Major companies like Monsanto led colorful defaming campaigns against the author. The campaign seemed to backfire as the publicity led to increased book sales, and the public awareness rose proportionally. The overwhelming public response had forced the U.S Senate to pay heed to Rachel Carson's views. She presented the scientific data accumulated for the book to President John F. Kennedy and his sub-committee. Their agenda was to formulate policies to counteract the pollution caused by
This is not the first time that BP is at fault. They have had criminal convictions in places such as Endicott Bay in Alaska, Texas City and Prudhoe Bay. Jeanne Pascal was a part of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and was assigned to watch over BP. Pascal was watching over companies such as BP that were facing debarment. Under her watch, BP was charged with four federal crimes. Over the past twelve years, Pascal’s seen BP patterns as misconducts. She attempted to warn the government about BP’s safety and environmental issues that would most likely lead to another disaster. While she was watching over BP, the company misinformed and misled her about things that resulted to the felonies that they have committed. Sensing that some things were not right about the company, she presented a case of their unsafe working environments.
Longtime mechanic Carlos Contreras says, "a million things can go wrong when working on a car." And a lot of them hurt like heck (Woolston, Chris. Car Mechanics. Healthday, n.d. Web.). Whether you’re in car restoration or own an auto shop, safety in the workshop is always the most important. Keeping yourself, your friends, your family, your customers and any other people safe amongst the dangers of motor vehicle repair is something you should always consider. Injuries occur on a daily basis in the workshop. Safety is the number one issue everyone should be concerned with, mechanic or not. One of the OSHA standards is regularly violated by shops and mechanics is the right to know the standard. This policy is depicts the use of potentially hazardous chemicals which is a very common occurrence in the automotive business. It simply requires that employees be notified of the possible dangers of any of the chemicals they are using. OSHA also insists that employees have a right to know how they might be affected by chemicals in the shop (Ray, Linda. Work. Chron, n.d. Web.). The right to know standard requires labeling all chemicals, and including lists with information, training for employees in use of the chemicals and a plan that outlines how the auto shop plans to follow the right procedures. Another subject would be the general protection of workers. Many auto shops also violate another OSHA regulation by not providing adequate safety equipment for the workers. Auto shops are required to have plans and safety equipment that can be dealt by the hazards that many employees are exposed to at work shop (Ray, Linda. Work. Chron, n.d. Web.). For example,...
Obama, B. (2013). Statement on the Explosion at the West Fertilizer Company Plant in West,
BP was founded in 1908 under the name Anglo-Persian Oil Company. They changed their name to British Petroleum in 1954 and merged with Amoco in 1998. (BP Public Website, 2010) “The Texas City Refinery is BP’s largest and most complex oil refinery... It was owned and operated by Amoco prior to the merger of BP and Amoco.” (Michael P. Broadribb, 2006) Throughout their history, there have been a number of accidents that have been caused by negligence and disregard of safety precautions. Unfortunately many lives have been cut short or seriously injured as a result. My research will focus on the 2005 Texas City Oil Refinery Explosion. I will attempt to look into the ethical implications that surrounded this disaster before and after the event and suggest what BP could have done to prevent the incident then and in the future.
As for the management of Union Carbide¡¦s Bhopal plant, some steps indeed needed to be improved. Let us take a look at the whole process of the gas leak and see what actions can be improved. The first mistake in my opinion was that R. Khan, an operator in the MIC complex, neglected to insert a slip blind above the point of water entry. This omission violated instructions in the MIC processing manual, the technical manual that set forth procedures established by the chemical engineers who set up the plant. Obviously, the plant failed to emphasize the importance of obeying the processing manual and the danger of disobeying ...
"The History of Plant Incidents at Formosa Plastics and Past Safety Violations." Industrial Injury Attorneys. http://www.industrialinjuryattorney.com/Industrial-Accident-Blog/2013/May/The-History-of-Plant-Incidents-at-Formosa-Plasti.aspx (accessed April 3, 2014).
"Workplace Safety." Labour Program. Government of Canada, 17 Jan. 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. .