Union Carbide’s Bhopal Plant Case Study

A tragic accident occurred on December 3, 1984 in Bhopal, India. A pesticide manufacturing plant, owned by a US company began leaking methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas. Union Carbide owned 51% of the plant while 49% as owned by India’s government and citizens. That evening an overnight a maintenance worker notices a high pressure reading on one of the storage tanks, before the supervisor was able to put out an alert, at least five tons of MIC gas escaped in to the atmosphere before the leak was sealed. Citizens of Bhopal and neighboring shanties suffered; the short term effects of exposure to the poison gas included blindness, lung and/or liver damage. Over the next few days 1000s were dead and many more injured, hospitals were unprepared and the long terms effects are unknown.

As the immediate crisis started to wane and the gas cloud dissipated into the atmosphere, discovery was under way to determine what happened and who was to blame. As evidence was collected, it was determined that the Bhopal plant had a history of violations; in addition, Union Carbide’s officials may have known about safety problems in the Bhopal plant. Six months prior to the accident the Indian subsidiary had confirmed with their US partners that all ten major defects found less than two years prior had been resolved. Monitoring of the equipment may not have been sufficient within the plant—many US companies would have been alerted much quicker and been able to prevent the leak. If the leak had occurred on US soil, top chemical processing plant are also required to have vent scrubbers; it was reported that the Bhopal plant’s scrubbers were not functional on the night of December 3, 1984.

Many US companies venture outside the US to avoid regulations, regulations that many have helped avoid a disaster like the one in Bhopal. As a corporate citizen it is important for companies to do what is right, regardless of where they are and what regulations are not imposed. In addition to...