Industrial Disaster: The Cause Of The Bhopal Disaster

In December 3, 1984, 42 metric tons of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas billowed from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) plant in Bhopal. The lethal gas leaked into the air and drifted to the shanty towns nearby. With an estimated death tolls amounting 20,000 people and approximately 800,000 population exposed to the deadly fumes in 1984 , it is no wonder why this incident was considered as the world’s most tragic industrial disaster. Until today, Bhopal disaster survivors suffered with lingering long-term adverse health effects including but not limited to nerve damage, obstructive respiratory tracts, emotional distress, birth defects and escalated rates of cancer and tuberculosis.

In the pre-event phase leading up to the disaster,

An industrial accident could be defined as a domino accidental event in which the severity of the domino accident would be higher or on par with the initial event. Here, the leading cause of the gas leak was attributed to the presence of copious amount of water that flowed into tank 610. A runaway reaction started almost instantaneously as materials interacted with contaminants, high temperatures and other factors. As domino effect unfolds, particularly in a tight coupling industry, a disaster would result. In this case, Bhopal disaster occurred and worsened as the increasing congestion within industrial complexes coupled with high population density in close proximity with the Bhopal

They proposed a fabricated theory which involved a sabotage attempt done by unknown extremist groups and disgruntled employees. By shifting the blame onto hypothetical perpetrators, they tried to absolve themselves from being held accountable for the disaster. This was seen as an evasion of moral responsibilities in many independent sources. Many argued that the theory was flawed and that the accident could not have happened if the factory practices regular maintenance and made sure that safety system was consistently in a good