Business Law and Ethics: Bhopal Gas Tragedy and Unethical Practices

Business Law and
Ethics

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Bhopal Gas Tragedy....................................................................................................................3
Ethics in Business.......................................................................................................................4
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)........................................................................................4
Ethical issues that lead to Bhopal Gas Tragedy..........................................................................4
CSR in case of Bhopal Gas Tragedy...........................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Business and its activities are governed by the law of business. This law is very vast and
there are certain other laws which are associated with it. The first and the foremost rule of any
business is that the practices of all the business carried out must be ethical in nature. The
business shall not be such which imposes any negative impact on the society and its people
(Chand, 2018). Ethical behaviour and conduct of any business either good or bad, directly affect
the growth and success of the company. It may either help a company grow by its positive
impact over the society or may lead to downfall of the business due to its negative impact over
the society.
This report consist of the dangerous gas leak incident of the whole world that happened
in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. This report explains that factors that lead to the disaster and
the unethical practices of the parent company that contributed in the leakage of methyl
isocyanate (MIC) gas.
MAIN BODY
Bhopal Gas Tragedy
Bhopal Gas tragedy is the worlds famous industrial disaster which took place on 3rd
December, 1984. The disaster which took place in Bhopal was the result of gas leakage in the
industry due to the unethical practices of the company. The was situated company in Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh, India under the name: Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) and it had its
parent company under the name: Union Carbide Company (UCC) which was located in United
States (US).
The plant situated in Bhopal under the name UCIL was an industry which was involved
in the production of pesticides. Therefore, one of the most dangerous and the major raw material
which was needed by the company in producing pesticide was Methyl Isocyanate (MIC). The
practices of the company were unethical and the company was only focusing on cutting off the
cost that was required to be invested in the maintenance and repair of the machineries and certain
other equipments (Bohra, 2019). An inspection was done by UCC but the changes which were
required to be made did not get into any implementation by the company and were also
neglected. The company paid no attention to the needs and requirements at the plant. The attitude
of the company while carrying out the production of pesticide was very casual and they were not