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LEGACY OF BHOPAL

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MOHAMMAD KAZMI

ELISE MIDDLETON

KARL BYRON SCHNEIDAU

SENG 674

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

APRIL DATE 2014

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

MOHAMMAD

Maritime transport is inherently dangerous by nature, and many incidents have resulted in

a significant loss of life, especially since 1890. Investigations into these incidents are conducted

in order to determine what went wrong. The identification of causes, and the development of

ways to prevent recurrence, is important for advances in maritime safety. This term paper

analyzes the affect that technology, human error, and emergency response may have had on six

fatal peacetime maritime accidents that occurred between 1912 and 1994. The incidents analyzed

include the s.s. Mont Blanc, RMS Titanic, RMS Empress of Ireland, ms Estonia and ms Herald

of Free Enterprise.

The root causes and contributing factors of each incident was evaluated in terms of

technology, human error, emergency response, and the regulatory environment in place at the

time of the incident. Root cause failures due to human error and technology were found to have a

greater impact on the incidents analyzed. Whereas failures within emergency response was found

to significantly impact the number of fatalities for each incident.

Considering the analysis of these six incidents, a list of suggested recommendations is

presented that are relevant for improving the safety of maritime operations today.

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Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2

Table of Contents.....................................................................................................................3

I. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................4

A. BACKGROUND......................................................................................................................4

B. PURPOSE................................................................................................................................4

C. OBJECTIVES..........................................................................................................................4

II. THE LEGACY OF BHOPAL..................................................................................................6

A. HEALTH..................................................................................................................................6

B. ENVIRONMENT.....................................................................................................................6

1. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT (THEN & NOW)..................................................................6

2. CURRENT REHABILITATION PLANS...............................................................................6

C. CHEMICAL SAFETY REGULATIONS................................................................................6

D. LIABILITY..............................................................................................................................6

III. LESSONS LEARNED FROM BHOPAL................................................................................7

A. DISASTERS SIMILAR TO BHOPAL....................................................................................7

B. LESSONS LEARNED.............................................................................................................7

1. Section 1...................................................................................................................................7

C. EMERGING ISSUES...............................................................................................................7

IV. CONCLUSIONS......................................................................................................................8

REFERENCES CITED...................................................................................................................9

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I. INTRODUCTION

A. BACKGROUND

BYRON

Bhopal disaster statistics: what happened, why it happened, what the outcome was

How the disaster affected Union Carbide

How the disaster affected regulatory requirements in the chemical industry

B. PURPOSE

MOHAMMAD

The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of the Bhopal incident and to

investigate and explain any ongoing legacy issues.

C. OBJECTIVES

The objective of this term paper is to discuss:

How the Bhopal disaster is believed to be impacting the next generation (e.g. birth

defects) MOHAMMAD

Ongoing environmental impact from the release (soil & groundwater contamination)

MOHAMMAD

Current rehabilitation plans (including the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and

Rehabilitation Ministry) ELISE

Regulatory Implications (US: 1986 EPCRA, establishment of OSHAs PSM

Regulation and EPAs RMP Rule) ELISE

Liability related legacy issues (e.g Union Carbide settlement, litigations, current

ownership) ELISE

Disasters similar to Bhopal after it occurred MOHAMMAD

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Lessons learned from the incident including inherently safer design, growth in

process safety management, importance of community engagement and awareness

BYRON

Emerging Issues related to inherent safety and reactive chemicals BYRON

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II. THE LEGACY OF BHOPAL

Text

A. HEALTH

Text MOHAMMAD

The immediate aftermath of the accident was the resulting death toll controversy. While the

Indian government official put the death toll count as 1,754, this was vehemently denied and

criticized by voluntary organizations on the ground and the NGO’s. The Delhi Science

Forum estimated the deaths to be around 5000 whereas the circumstantial evidence of death

such shrouds sold, missing persons estimate put the death toll at about 10,000. (Shrivastava,

64-65). In its report in 2004, Amnesty International estimated that between 7000 and 10 000

people died within 3 days of the disaster, and another 150,000 to 200,000 died from related

caused to the accident from 1985–2003. These figures are much higher than most official

estimates, and are based on extrapolation of mortality rates. (Sharma)

In the beginning few months of the Bhopal tragedy, it was believed that the aftereffects of

exposure of MIC were temporary and would not cause any long term medical affects

(Boffey). However, due to the overwhelming case of injuries believed to be in the range from

about 200,000 to 300,000, it became abundantly clear that despite MIC being used in the

industrial process for several decades, very little was known about its long-term effects

(Smyth). The most serious and permanent damage which affected the general popular was

related to the respiratory tract. The MIC furthermore also damaged mucus membranes,

perforated tissue, inflamed the lungs and caused secondary lung infections. Many of these

survivors later on went to have asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, and fibrosis, leave physically

unable to work and earn a living. (Shrivastava, 67-68)

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To compound the general populace woe’s they also had to deal with the effects of other toxic

gases which had leaked from the storage tank. It can be said with certainty that the releasing

gas contained a mixture of MIC with chloroform. (Srivastava, 70). The diverse set of

symptoms found in the survivors prompted the health organizations to conclude that MIC

alone could not be responsible. The combination of toxic gases inhaled by the victims

possibly contained a mixture of over 20 aqueous and thermal decomposition products, which

included hydrogen cyanide (Sharma). After MIC, the chemical which caused the most havoc

to the residents’ health was hydrogen cyanide. Even though it’s a deadly poison, antidotes to

it are known and if Union Carbide had made the local press and hospitals aware of it, rather

than denying its presence, many lives could have been saved (Shrivastava, 71). Thirty five

percent of the patients had contracted gastrointestinal, nervous system and eye damage which

proved that the victims were suffering from cyanide poisoning. (Medico Friends Circle)

Other than fatalities, physical injuries and economic and social disruptions another problem

which enveloped and become epidemic in the survivors were those of psychological

problems. Although fear was the primary psychological symptom of the residents and the

survivors, other symptoms such as sleeplessness, nightmares, anxiety, loss of libido,

projection of guilt and increased family violence were not to be discounted. Mass fear within

the city caused almost 400,000 residents to flee the city and never return. The majority of the

people who suffered such psychological illnesses were women of childbearing age. Such

women also suffered from severe gynecological illnesses, such as shortened periods and

abnormal menstrual cycles (Shrivastava, 73-74). Furthermore about fifty percent of women

reported an inability to breast-feed due to lactation failure (Medico Friends Circle). Out of

2700 pregnancies, 52 ended in stillbirths. Amongst the live births, 132 babies survived only

for a short time and 30 of them were born malformed. (Madhya Pradesh Chronicle)

The challenges related to the accident continue till this day. The medical fraternity did not

believe in chemical asthma, and after a long time have started to believe and realize that

chemicals can cause asthma and treat it (Bisarya and Puri). More than half a million people

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were exposed to MIC; around 120 000 of them continue to suffer from chronic respiratory,

ophthalmic, reproductive, endocrine, gastro-intestinal, musculoskeletal, neurological, and

mental disorders (Sharma). Furthermore nowhere else in the world are there more people

with the diseases called pulmonary fibrosis leading to pulmonary cripples. Treatment for this

disease has been slow and has been marred by the usual litigation and bureaucracy issues.

Reproductive problems still exist with mothers even today giving birth to still born or

deformed fetuses. Lastly cancer cases continue to multiply and mental retardation in the

residents is getting more manifest. (Bisarya and Puri).

B. ENVIRONMENT

Text MOHAMMAD

Even though the damage to plant and animal life was equally devastating, the effects on them

were not studied because all of the available resources were focused on mitigating human losses.

The number of animal deaths, after the initial leak was reported to be about 2000. More than

7000 animals were given therapeutic care and the postmortem done on the animals suggested

cyanide poisoning was involved. The MIC leak destroyed the standing vegetation in the

surrounding areas with the plants suffering from symptoms such as dryness, scorching and

bleaching. A dramatic increase in the free carbon-dioxide and ammonia nitrogen was also

detected in the water after the accident. After the accident up to 22 chemicals were found to be

have dumped by Union Carbide into either air, water or soil. (Shrivastava, 74-75).

1. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT (THEN & NOW)

Text MOHAMMAD

A number of investigations done by Indian and international organizations have found that the

subsoil and groundwater are contaminated with heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants

from the abandoned pesticide plant. According to a recent report commissioned by Greenpeace

in 2004, it was found that chemicals such carbon tetrachloride chloroform, trichloroethene,

tetrachloroethene, and dichlorobenzene, were present in concentrations ranging from five to 600

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times the safe limits. Keving Brigden of the Greenpeace Science Unit, University of Exeter, UK

said in the report that “Persistent organic chemicals stay in the environment for tens of thousands

of years. They have known health effects on the liver and kidney, while some are carcinogenic”.

Based on its findings, Greenpeace gave a list of recommendations for cleaning up the site in

Bhopal. It recommended off-site treatment of the contaminated soil and reuse of the land and has

opposed the idea of converting the site into a landfill, which was proposed by the local state

government. Harald Burmeier of University of Applied Sciences, Gehrden, Germany, explained

that “The factory contaminated the environment in three phases: the production phase before the

accident, when there were chemical losses; the accident in which gases leaked and dust

emissions polluted the surrounding areas; and the third phase is the post-accident era when

leftover chemicals soaked into the ground due to rain and other weather conditions”. Despite

these recommendations, nothing has been done at the site during the past 20 years. The fence

which was supposed to eclipse the plant has not been completed even till today. As such the

restricted area is open to the public and the children play there, the cattle graze on the local

vegetation and people take away material for building their houses, further endangering their

health. (Sharma)

2. CURRENT REHABILITATION PLANS

Text ELISE

C. CHEMICAL SAFETY REGULATIONS

Text ELISE

D. LIABILITY

Text ELISE

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III.LESSONS LEARNED FROM BHOPAL

TEXT. BYRON

A. DISASTERS SIMILAR TO BHOPAL

TEXT MOHAMMAD

One of the most important lessons learnt from Bhopal was the need to study both the short-term

and long term effects of chemicals used in the industry. Unfortunately this important lesson has

still not been applied in practice, where to this day the effects of most industrial chemicals

remain poorly understood. If an accident such as Bhopal were to happen again, doctors are still

likely to be faced with treating a mysterious poison as they were in Bhopal (Mukerjee).

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recorded 74 major

accidents in the eight years preceding to Bhopal. Even after Bhopal, the next eight years the

number of major gas releases reached 106. In the USA alone between 1980 and 1990, the

number of gas releases that exceeded Bhopal in quantity and toxicity totaled 15. According to

Donald J. Lisk of Cornell University, the reason behind not studying the damage industrial

chemicals cause, is that unlike pesticides and drugs, the industrial chemicals were not intended to

be ingested. Hence, studying them is not a priority. In present day, adequate toxicology exists

for only 2 to 3 percent of the more than 70,000 substances used to create about five million

products, observes Joseph LaDou of the University of California at San Francisco. He further

says that for 75 percent, there is no toxicology at all. This cavalier attitude goes on to show that

in the event of a leak or a release, it will be the workers and general populace who will be treated

as guinea pigs as was in the case of understanding the health effects of MIC. (Mukerjee)

One of the main reasons for the Bhopal accident to occur was corporate oversight and greed.

“The incident of Bhopal raises important questions about the accountability of corporations and

the availability of legal redress for the most vulnerable members of the society such as the poor,

the uneducated, the disenfranchised, the unrepresented, and the marginalized-who have been

directly affected by harmful corporate actions” (Dussias). The story of Bhopal in corporate

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actions repeats itself in many cases, and one of these examples relates to the environmental

destruction of Corrientes River Basin of the northeastern Peruvian Amazon caused by the actions

of Occidental Petroleum Corporation. Just like Bhopal, the local residents continue to suffer

from the lingering effects of the environmental degradation caused and have been doing so for

the last 30 years. According the lawsuit filed in the State of California in May, 2007, the

plaintiff’s claim that that Occidental "knowingly engaged in destructive practices which severely

contaminated unique and sensitive ecosystems and caused profound impacts upon the rights and

health of the communities living there." More specific claims included in the complaint were

claims for wrongful death, negligence, battery, trespass, fraud, and public and private nuisance.

(Dussias)

The question remains to be asked is why would the governments of India and Peru be willing to

subject poor, vulnerable citizens of their own countries to the risky, environmentally destructive

practices of multinational corporations? Why would they not regulate such industries and have

effective measures to counter any unsafe practices. The root cause of the problem is that in both

the Achuar and Bhopal scenarios, the superior political and economic power of multinational

corporations was welcomed by the governments in question. The governments did not ask or

require the consent of the people whose lands, lives, and livelihoods were threatened by such

operations. To summarize when “government goals came in conflict with the human, property,

and other rights of vulnerable, effectively disenfranchised segments of the population, the

government gave top priority to accomplishment of its own goals, which were more likely to

bring benefits to other segments of the population. The lesson learnt in such a scenario is that

even democratically elected governments may place what they see as important development

goals and projects above the health and safety of segments of their population that are not in a

position to effectively protest” (Dussias). To avoid incidents like this to be repeated it is vital to

have a truly representative democracy. The people who will be exposed to the risk that these

plants must have a say in the opening and workings of these plants. (Dussias)

B. LESSONS LEARNED

BYRON

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1. Section 1

Text

C. EMERGING ISSUES

BYRON

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IV. CONCLUSIONS

Text ELISE

• The precursors that lead to the incident and the direct impact on Union Carbide

• How the incident impacted regulations and industry focus; and

• The future of the ongoing legacy issues

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