Bhopal Have you ever experienced such a life changing event that people all around the world hear about, and you've only dreamt about a disaster so bad? In 1984 a gas reaction happened in Bhopal, India that caused thousands upon thousands of deaths. Many of the deaths happened during the wee hours of the morning when people were sleeping, so they had no chance to live. The Bhopal, India incident, during which a gas/chemical leak from a Union Carbide plant killed thousands, would not have occurred if the company had taken the same safety measures required in first world countries. On December 3, 1984 a horrible accident occurred in the petrochemical capital of Central India,(Wolpert 152). “‘the single most astonishing and terrible event,”’-Union Carbide Chairman and CEO, Robert Kennedy. In the early morning, a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India leaked 40 tons of methyl isocyanate into the air, in the form of a gas. The owner of the plant, Union Carbide, was at fault, and allowed water to get into the storage tank of the lethal gas. Methyl isocyanate is an organic chemical that when exposed to water reacts violently (Murphy). This pernicious gas is harmful to humans, and can kill anyone that inhales it. The gas leaked silently to nearby villages resulting in an estimated 2000 deaths, (Nolen; Wolpert). The toxic gas caused swollen eyes and bloody mouths to those it did not kill. These dangerous side effects led to tens of thousands of deaths of not only humans, but also animals. The incident in Bhopal, India caused the largest death toll in the world due to an industrial accident, (Murphy) Working conditions in third-world countries are very different from what factory workers experience in the United States. In India two third... ... middle of paper ... ... (Bhopal Information Center). If the Union Carbide plant followed the same safety procedures, as a first- world country, thousands of deaths would never have gotten lost due to a chemical reaction. If the plant had proper supervisors and properly working safety machines the reaction could have been stopped and contained to just inside the factory. The long-term effects are still seen in todays life and has really damaged people spirits and the city of Bhopal. The government played a big part in the conclusion of the case of the explosion. After knowing what happened in Bhopal, having inadequate safety procedures, the world should have a better idea on how to run a plant, and how to deal with problems within. “Government investigators hope to determine why none of the workers inside the plant died from the fumes, while outside the plant thousands were killed.” (Time)
dangers in the nuclear plant because the bosses just ignored it. The bosses and workers are not
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 injustice that transpires within these workspaces evoke disparate responses from concerned citizens. From reading Bob Jeffcott’s article “Sweat, Fire, and Ethics,” the reader is challenged to urge their governments and educational institutions to condemn the exercise of exploitation of sweatshops be demanding evidence of improvements in working conditions. In Jeffrey D. Sachs excerpt “Bangladesh: On the Ladder of Development,” the working conditions of the women factory workers in Bangladesh is revealed yet the reader is persuaded to support these sweatshops because it is the only opportunity that these women have to gain a better life for themselves and their families. Upon reading both pieces, it is evident that sweatshops do not necessarily need to end completely, yet the business strategies employed within these facilities that negatively affect the workers must be monitored and addressed by the government in order for these companies to abandon labor
Authors Barbara Ehrenreich, and Annette Fuentes reveal the exploitation of women working and struggling to survive in third world countries in their essay entitled “Life on the Global Assembly Line.” Which was written and targeted in Ms. Magazine. Jobs in the factory and street working are the main ways of income for these women; young and old and unfortunately, it is their only choice because of government laws and because of how they are brought up and raised. In some cases, women are gaining the strength to rebel, to riot for change. These cases spread the word on their cry for help in hopes that this change they want, will one day become reality.
At the end I come to conclusion that BP was not properly prepared for any disaster like that there risk assessment related to project is very limited and even not considered seriously about it for their own progress and putting live of public and employees in danger by not following the standard SOP of particular project. Even after incident happened they try to close their eyes on reality. The company should take this incident as alarm and should implement proper risk assessment for future and also compensate damages on ethical ground and if they counter this situation in good way their loss of bad reputation will be lesser as it predicted to be they should considered their responsibility towards society as well by doing this they not only making other people lives better but also earning good will to their company.
After the Bhopal Disaster, Union Carbide made an ethical decision through their legal strategy to secure the best outcome for themselves and to keep their company from going bankrupt multiple times over. Union Carbide used the corruption of the Indian court system to their advantage to minimize the amount they would pay in damages to the victims. Their strategy wouldn’t be considered moral to the victims of this chemical explosion if the trial were kept in the American court system. What is ethical isn’t always considered moral to all the parties involved. With a company facing bankruptcy and losing everything they had, the only ethical decision was to use the court systems to their advantage. By doing so, they made the ethical decision strictly
In order to improve conditions within sweatshops, we must think about what the worker population wants. The conditions within these factories are brutal and abusive, as well as troubling. Not only that, but the entire industry must be open to transparent evaluation to others. It is when workers have a loud and clear voice in how their working conditions are that we can see the entire system as productive and fair.” Admitting there is a problem may be the first step to recovery. Hearing workers' voices, establishing criteria for comparing factories internationally, and verifying problems and corrections through the participation of local nongovernmental organizations and unions are key steps in a long road toward improving global working conditions.”
The lack of ethics concerning global issues can be found in the sweatshops of underdeveloped and third world countries. This issue has developed from the indiscretion of industries and employers. Industries treat their employees poorly; moreover, employees are subjected to extremely poor working conditions, poverty wages, and little to no benefits or union representation. The competition of industries has created these oppressive practices. According to research done by Jay Mandle at Cambridge, in countries such as Bangladesh, sweatshop workers are paid only 13 cents per hour in US money. These workers are subjected to extremely overpopulated sweatshops, being that an astounding 3.5 million workers make up the workforce of 4,825
On April 17, 2013, the community of West, Texas, suffered a devastating and heartbreaking event in the evening hours. After a fire broke out inside the West Fertilizer plant, a massive explosion leveled the facility, caused millions of dollars in damage to surrounding buildings, and took the lives of over a dozen people. Sadly, the majority of those killed were volunteer firefighters who had responded to the fire and were unable to retreat to a safe distance before the explosion. Nearly 200 injuries were also reported to have been treated at local hospitals (Wood, 2013). The explosion was said to be caused by the combination of the fire and large stores of ammonium nitrate fertilizer at the plant.
“On March 23, 2005, at 1:20 pm, the BP Texas City Refinery suffered one of the worst industrial disasters in recent U.S. history. Explosions and fires killed 15 people and injured another 180, alarmed the community, and resulted in financial losses exceeding $1.5 billion.” (U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, 2007) There are many small and big decisions and oversights that led to the incident. Underneath all the specific actions or inaction is a blatant disregard for addressing safety violations and procedures that had been pointed out to BP even years before this event. The use of outdated equipment and budget cuts also contributed to the circumstances that allowed this accident to happen.
DuPont had been overlooking the effects of C8 to its workers and the inhabitants in that region. Despite all the concerns raised by both its workers and inhabitants no action was taken. Many had been affected health wise and even economically. Women who were directly exposed to the chemical also stood a risk of giving birth to children who were deformed and had health issues. Workers were mostly affected by asthma, intense diarrhea and bleeding. Despite all this, if DuPont had used the Pentad approach they could have created a more systematic change, this change could have assisted in coming up with ways to dispose of the chemicals in addition to creating safety measures for their workers when handling this chemical. The use of Pentad could have been very helpful, for instance, it could have allowed them to focus on how they could have managed the effects of this chemical both by the company and the surrounding neighbors.
When I think about this disaster, I see little girls falling from the building and I hear screams and I feel really sad and depressed, because no one could save them. I would imagine they were terrified and was hoping someone could rescue them. Even though this incident was one of the worst cases in industrial history, the fire had caused better safety procedures and better environments for the workers. So I guess if the fire hadn’t killed all those lives, we would have never changed our ways for the
In addition to the plant, the governments related in India that issued permits and provided incentives for the plant, Bhopal community officials who permitted slum dwellers to move near the plant in illegal settlements, Indian environmental and safety inspectors should also be responsible for this. The governments related in India issued permits because people need jobs, or people would starve to death. This was one reason in my opinion. Soft money from Union Carbide plant may be another reason for issuing permits. It was clearly that the governments in America would not issue a permit to Union Carbide plant under such circumstances, which lacked of severe environmental standards and permitted slum dwellers to live near the plant and so on. Such actions were the fuses leading to more deaths. Before the major gas leakage from the MCI unit on December 3, 1984, some people were killed because of phosgene gas leakage. However, no one took it seriously in spite of the report by media. One of the reasons that people ignore this was because people didn¡¦t know the potential danger of the chemical plant. The other reason was that there are not enough environmental inspectors to cover so many plants in India. Besides, those inspectors had a record of loose enforcement. Consequently, danger emerged just as the saying goes ¡§Nothing comes of nothing.¡¨
Nearly three decades ago, the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal India had a devastated tragedy. The toxic chemical and methyl isocyanate gas leak from the plant killed thousands of civilians who were sleeping and injured hundreds of thousands of people in the nearby neighborhood. For those who survived from this catastrophic incident had injuries ranging from blindness to suffering burns of the skins. The cause of this accident was due to the lack of safety standards and the decision making of Management of Union Carbide in the U.S and management in India in which it played a huge role on how this incident unfold and the many lives that were affected by this horrific accident. The Union Carbide manager in India’s overlooked at safety issues that could have clued them to the problem that needed to be resolved. And if management had a high priority for the safety of their employee’s well-being instead of profit, this situation could have been avoided. After the incident, it was a matter of who was responsible and who will compensate for the injured victims.
...t entire families died which left no one to identify remains of the deceased. Union Carbide claimed 3,800 people died as a result of this industrial accident. The municipal workers that moved the bodies of the deceased estimated 15,000. However, the local government’s official death toll is 20,000. The Indian Government reported that over a half-million people were exposed to the toxic gas and that survivors are, to this day, still dying from long-term effects of exposure.