The Union Carbide plant caused the accident on the 3rd of December 1984. Forty-two tonnes of meythylisocyanate (MIC) gas was released from the plant, affecting more than five hundred thousand people. In total, twenty five thousand people died and most of the rest affected left with permanent injuries. To this day, many people in Bhopal are still being affected; some babies are being born with damages. The cause of the disaster was due to lack of safety precautions, knowledge of the chemicals used and maintenance of the plant.

The Union Carbide plant produced the pesticide carbaryl (Sevin). MIC was used in the manufacture of carbaryl; a plant was added to the site that produced MIC in 1979. MIC was used because it was a cheaper option then less toxic material. The pesticide they produced was used to increase the productivity in India’s agriculture sector to meet the food demands of the most heavily populated areas and cotton production. Their products were used internationally for the same reasons. Pesticides are used all around the world, whether it is in households or in farms. During the 1980s the demand of pesticides had fallen, but production had continued, which lead to a built-up of MIC.

Meythylisocyanate is highly toxic, therefore there are many hazards associated with it. It must be handled with proper care; it must be stored at temperatures below forty degrees Celsius; stored in only stainless steel or glass containers and kept away from water. Storing MIC avoiding these hazards can lead to unwanted reactions that can be deadly. Damage that is caused by MIC exposure at quantities of 0.4ppm includes chest pain, eye irritations, coughing, asthma, dyspnoea, nose, and skin and throat damage. High level of exposure at 21ppm can cause haemorrhages and emphysema, lung or pulmonary oedema, bronchial pneumonia and death.

The accident occurred when a large amount of water entered tank 610 of the plant, which was holding forty-two tonnes of MIC. The tanks temperature rose to over two hundred and ten degrees Celsius, due to the reaction between the water and MIC. A large amount of pressure built-up in the tank, which it couldn’t withstand, forcing it to release the toxic gas through the emergency venting. The reaction was exothermic, which explains why heat was released. More than just MIC gas was released, the gas reacted with other elements in the air and the high temperatures caused elements of MIC to separate. This caused runaway decomposition reactions and mixing of incompatible chemicals. The pipelines used were not stainless steel; due to this, the reaction rate was increased because of the presence of corroding iron. The possible factors that could have caused the leakage were improper storage, poor maintenance, corroded pipelines and the shut down of safety systems to save money.

After the accident the plant was closed down, many workers lost their jobs. While the plant was running, workers went on many strikes because they weren’t getting paid enough. Also, the workers weren’t properly equipped, with proper clothing, mask etc, and educated, their manuals were in English and some couldn’t understand it. This made more skilled workers leave the plant, leaving it with inexperienced workers. There were many warnings before the accident that affected workers; an example is, a worker died on December 25th 1981 because there was a phosgene leak. When the MIC release was first detected, three hours later, the workers unions printed out posters to warn the community, they said things like “Lives of thousands of workers and citizens in danger because of poisonous gas.” The workers were eventually evacuated, but they faced many of the same problems the locals did as well.

The local people of Bhopal were affected greatly due to the gas release. People were waking up with burning sensations in their lungs and began to panic and tried to run away from the plant. People who were running inhaled more gas and so did children and shorter people. People were running in all directions and started falling one by one and being trampled on. People were also vomiting, coughing, suffocating and experiencing eye irritations, which were getting worse as time went by. It was estimated around three thousand eight hundred people died on the night of the accident. Many more died a few days after, and survivors were left with permanent injuries. Even today the people of Bhopal are being affected, the gas leak had poisoned water supplies and some babies are being born malformed.

The organizations that are directly responsible for taking care of the workers’ and community’s safety are the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and the International Medical Commission on Bhopal (IMCB). The UCC actions were the reason why the accident was so bad. They disabled safety equipment, didn’t properly train and equip the plant’s workers and kept storages of MIC at dangerously high levels. The alarm to alert the community was also switched off, so there was no time for evacuation as soon as the leak occurred. IMCB helped the survivors of Bhopal by providing them with proper care, keeping them safe and did a lot of other things as well.

The organisation that did the original investigation of the accident was the government agencies- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). While it was thought the water came in through a leakage, the CBI tested this hypothesis and said it was negative. The route of water to the tank was not possible, ideas of disgruntled worker directly introducing water into the tank was discussed after finding this out. This couldn’t be confirmed because the investigation team found no connections due to any evidence. Some information that failed to be given out by the CSIR was when the water route was tested and that while testing; the water didn’t even rise to the first valve, due to insufficient pressure. This would mean their test was unreliable so it is unclear what exactly caused the accident.

The Bhopal chemical accident is considered the worst industrial accident that ever happened. The accident shows how uncontrolled chemical accidents can be very dangerous and can cause a lot of deaths or permanent injuries. The best way to prevent them is to make sure people know how dangerous a chemical is and how it should be handled. Another way would be to make sure plants using chemicals have probably educated and equipped workers and all the right safety equipment and procedures. While it wasn’t exactly clear how the MIC plant accident occurred, it would have been a lot less damaging if these rules were applied.

Bibliography

“Bhopal disaster” (2009) [on-line] Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

“Bhopal- Rate of Reaction” (2007) [on-line] Available: http://pulse.pharmacy.arizona.edu/11th_grade/industrialization/chemistry/rate_of_reaction.html

“International Medical Commission on Bhopal” (2009) Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Medical_Commission_on_Bhopal

“The Bhopal Plant” (2008) [on-line] Available:

http://www.bhopal.com/plant.htm

“What Happened?” (2008) [on-line] Available: http://www.studentsforbhopal.org/WhatHappened.htm