CASE STUDY 4: THE BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY The Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) is a chemical company started in 1917. Since 1999 it has been a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. In December 1984 a Union Carbide pesticide plant in the Indian city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh (central India) accidentally released 42 tonnes of toxic gas into the air, killing up to 2,000 people and allegedly leading to the cumulative total of 25,000 related deaths. This case study explores the safety measures adopted by the engineers when designing the chemical plant, and how it differed from similar plants operating in the US. It is often quoted as being one of the worst industrial disasters ever. To date, there is still a dispute as to how the accident occurred, but the main issue relates to the design of the plant, its safety measures and the lack of adherence to the adopted safety practices. 42 Discussion questions: ethical issues introduced by case study Should manufacturing safety standards be internationally the same, or could there ever be a situation when safety can be compromised to reduce running costs? In your discussion use the ethical theories (e.g. utilitarianism, rights and duty ethics) as a basis of your reasoning. You might consider balancing the need to secure work for developing nations against competitive bidding for new factories. Should nations be able to set their own safety standards according to the level of resources available to them? 2. Consider, for example, the RAE statement of four fundamental principles on engineering ethics introduced in chapter 1. On a scale of 1 to 10, rate the level of violation of each of the 4 principles by the engineers a) designing the Bhopal plant and b) responsible for maintaining safety equipment and regulations. 3. Do you believe that the US parent company, UCC, neglected a responsibility to guarantee safety to the people of Bhopal, or was this a matter for UCIL? Was UCC justified in defending themselves, stating that the accident was a result of sabotage by a disgruntled employee? 4. Has UCC paid its debt to the people of Bhopal? Is it fair that Warren Anderson is now classed as a fugitive by the Indian courts?