This report discusses the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and its impact on business law and ethics. It explores the causes, consequences, and aftermath of the disaster, as well as the ethical issues surrounding it. The report highlights the importance of safety precautions and responsible management in preventing such tragedies.
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Business Law and Ethics (Individual Report)
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Table of Contents INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3 PART 2............................................................................................................................................3 BhopalGas Tragedy...............................................................................................................3 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7 REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
INTRODUCTION Commerciallaw and ethics arelegislations and rulesthatgoverns thefunctioningof business. It is important to comply with the laws so that the business does not face any hardships. Business law isan umbrella that has differentlegislations under itthat involves data protection, contract law, employment law, companies Act, intellectual property laws andetc. Ethics are moral values or the principles which must be followed by the business in order to ensure smooth running of it. This report shall deal with Bhopal gas tragedy. PART 2 BhopalGas Tragedy The Bhopal Disaster, alsocalledas Bhopal gas tragedyis anincident ofleak of gason the night of2ndand 3rdDecember 1984 at Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant situated inthe city ofBhopal. A chemical called methyl isocyanate (MIC) split out from the UCIL pesticide factory which turned the city of Bhopal into the gas chamber. Around 30 tonnes of MIC gas was leaked which affected more than 600000 workers and killed more than 15000 people and created a panic in the city as thousands of people attempted to flee from Bhopal. Warning bell before the disaster In the year 1969, the factory of UCIL was producing the Sevin, a pesticide by using Methyl isocyanate as its intermediate. The trade unions in the city of Bhopal complained of the pollution which was done by the factory in the year 1976 (Manzoor and Ali, 2018). Just after few years of this, one of the worker in the factory accidently inhaled the toxic phosgene gas which resulted in its death just after couple of hours. Soon after this incident, the journalist of Bhopal began its investigation and published its finding which stated thatcome aroundcitizensof Bhopal,all are in the border of the volcano. Another incident which alarmed this tragedy was that two years before this disaster,approx.45 workersremainedexposed tothephosgene and admitted tothecare centreand in the year1983- 84, there was leak of the gas which included phosgene, methyl isocyanate, mono methylamine and carbon tetrachloride. Bhopal gas tragedy In 1984, December 2, around 11 PM, when approx. 1 million population of Bhopal was sleeping, themanageroffactorynoticed that there waslittleleak of the MIC gas and the enhancedpressureinthetank where gas was stored. Itisfound that thescrubber of vent gas
which is a devicefor safetydesigned in order tocounterbalancethedischarge which was toxic in naturefromthe system of MICwasalready turnedoff3weeks earlier. Secondly, the gas flare system of safetywasalso not workingthree months ago(Sood, 2020). Then at 1 AM, on 3 December, 1984, the MIC gas was spread into the environment. Within few hours, the roads of Bhopal werefilledwith thedead bodies.The estimation was that around 3800personsimmediately diedthatincluded the people living inareas of slumwhich was closeto the UCC plant. The hospitals werefilledwith peopleinjured. Consequences of disaster Soon afteranincident, the UCC industry which is a parent company started to distance itself with the Indian subsidiary, that is UCIL in order to evade the liability and transfer theguilt to thesubsidiarycompany. Theworkingof theorganisationwas also discontinued. Secondly, due to the gas leak, thousands ofhumansandtheanimals died and the devastating effect of this disaster was carried over to next generations. The people suffered major short and long term problemsof health. The short term health effects included vomiting, coughing, feeling of suffocation and even severe eye irritation. The people also experienced breathlessness and stomach pains. The major causes of death involve chocking, pulmonary oedema and even reflexogenic circulatory collapse. The long term health effects included that people suffered permanent injuries and reported symptoms included respiratory difficulties, eye problems,cardiacfailure,birthdefectsandmanyotherdisorders.However,theIndian government denied that the permanent injuries were the effect of the MIC gas leak (Dauda, 2019). Thirdly, the environment was also severely harmed and the corporationdeclinedto take theresponsibility of restoring thepositive andhealthy environment. Thecorporationused to dump huge amount of toxic outside thefactoryand these wastes slowlypollutedthe groundwater and soil. The Greenpeace in 1999 collected the water and soil samples from the plant site and found that these are toxic for the humans. Aftermath of gas leakage the government enacted the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster (Processing of Claims) Act, 1985 on 29thMarch 1985 whichprovidedright to the government to act and represent onthe sideof the persons who arepermittedto make the claims incontextto gas leak in Bhopal. This authority was given to the central government as 'parens patriae'. How2ever this action was criticised as it
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evade the responsibility to initiate the proceedings against the state by the victims as they were stopped to take initiative. The government filedthecomplaint in the Southern District Court of New York, USA, and argues thatthe courts of Indiacould not deal with matter effectively and it must be dealt in the US court (Pramoth, Sudha and Kalaiselvam, 2020). On the other side company forced to deal the matter in the Indian court and in 1986, September, the Union of India filed the complaint in the Bhopalregioncourt to seektemporarycompensation ofapprox. 3.5 billion rupees. Then in an appeal, the MP High courtabridgedthe amount to 2.5 billion. Afterwards,parent company filed an appeal in Supreme court of India anditordered to pay 470 million dollars which is approx.to750 Crore rupees in full settlement of the claims, liabilities&rights which arose out of the Bhopal disaster. Moreover, the people criticised the judgement andcancellingof criminal proceedings. Then in year 1989, the Supreme court of Indiacombinedmanycomplaintsand then revived the criminalcasesandruledthat the in case of anylackin the amount of compensationmoney, the state would be obligedto pay it. Additionally, the former employees of the UCIL including chairman weresentencedfor death bythenegligence and wereimprisonedto 2 yearsof jailand a fine of $2000. Ethical negligence From side of UCC, it found from its internal report on West Virgin plant in USA that there were number of malfunctionsand defects.Thiswas alsoinformedthat a reaction cancome in the storage tank of MIC. This report was never given or forwarded to the plant of Bhopal but the main design was same. Moreover, UCC company argues that it has sufficient safety system in the plant and were operative tostopintrusion of the water. This was dictated on the website of tragedy and claims maintained by UCC as an incident which is a result of the sabotage. The company underinvested in the safety which resulted in the dangerous working environment for the workers(Bloch, 2016). Ethical issues There was lack of training to the home country supervisor and they must be trained according to the American value system. This issue was highlighted by the US court also. The government used this tragedy as political pawn where the state and the central government have unstable response to it and this unstable response was blamed on the Union Carbide. Moreover
the company has initiated several outreach programs which were not completed. These programs must be concurrent from the start of the project ((Wettstein, 2020). Another ethical issue involves that the supervisor were not ready to take responsibility rather they should have multi diversionary authority to suspend the activity when needed and impose penalty hen required. The supervisors were also not diversed training in order to invoke personal responsibility on them.
CONCLUSION It is concluded from the report that business law and ethics plays a major role in guiding the working and functioning of the business. The Bhopal gas tragedy created the massive impact in the world. The citizens of all the developed nations also become more aware regarding the safety precautions so that these kind of tragedies can be eliminated. This tragedy resulted in severe health issues to the people and death of thousands of the people. The lack of knowledge in the safety matter and aspects like professional ethics, risk assessment and responsibility for safety which must be looked into by the management in order to evade the liability of the disaster. However from this incident, a new development in law was given which resulted in principle of absolute liability and the environmental protect law.
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REFERENCES Books and Journals Manzoor, S. and Ali, M., 2018. Disaster and mental health: A need for multipronged approach.Indian Journal of Health & Wellbeing,9(3). Sood, V., 2020. Growth of Indian Environmental Jurisprudence and the Social Responsibility of Corporates toward the Environment.Conservation, Sustainability, and Environmental Justice in India, p.81. Dauda, M., 2019. Ecological Modernization Theory and Sustainable Development Dilemmas: Who benefits from technological innovation?The African Review,46(1), pp.68-83. Pramoth, R., Sudha, S. and Kalaiselvam, S., 2020. Resilience-based Integrated Process System Hazard Analysis (RIPSHA) approach: Application to a chemical storage area in an edible oil refinery.Process Safety and Environmental Protection,141, pp.246-258. Bloch, K., 2016.Rethinking Bhopal: A Definitive Guide to Investigating, Preventing, and Learning from Industrial Disasters. Elsevier. Wettstein, F., 2020. The history of business and human rights and its relationship with corporate social responsibility. InResearch Handbook on Human Rights and Business. Edward Elgar Publishing.