Oleum Gas Leak Case Tragedy: A Faulty Engineering Problem

This report discusses the Oleum Gas Leak Case Tragedy and its consequences due to faulty engineering. It also suggests rectifiable processes to avoid similar incidents in the future.

Society,Sustainability and Engineering
XXX-X-XXXX-XXXX-X/XX/$XX.00 ©20XX IEEE

Abstract— The main focus point of the report is to take into
consideration different aspects of failure relating to the Oleum
Gas leak case tragedy. The concentration area which is related
to the concept can be in the field of the engineering problem
which was encountered into the event.
Keywords— Oleum Gas leak case tragedy, chemical,
mitigation, planning, concentration and engineering
I. INTRODUCTION
The event which is related to the Oleum Gas leak
case tragedy took place in the year 1986, which passed an
judgement that whoever would be affected by the event had
to compensate for the event and for the sector of the affected
people. [16]. The killer gas in the concept was spread
throughout the city directly sending the scurrying resident
throughout the dark streets. One of the factor which can be
stated here is that there was no alarm or plan of evacuation
planned to stop the attack. The event was no much
unplanned that when the victim of the attack reaches the
hospital having problem with the breathing and blindness,
the doctor did not have any idea how to treat them [15]. The
event which is discussed above can be considered as one of
the major faults which can be related to the engineering
work in recent times.
The main scenario which would be discussed in the
report is directly related to the event of the Oleum Gas leak
case tragedy. The focus point would be one on the factor
which directly lead to the incident and the consequences of
the attack which can be seen after the attack is initiated. At
the end of the report a rectifiable process would be focus
which could have been implemented which would have
stopped the attack.
II. REASON BEHIND THE ATTACK
The main reason behind the attack was that on the
night of 1986, a routine maintenance check was being
generated at the plant. At about 9:30 a large amount of water
directly entered into the air which contained over 40 tons of
toxic chemicals. Due to this event it directly triggered a
reaction which resulted in the high amount of increase of
temperature and pressure in the tank [10]. The products
which was generated burst past the disc which was ruptured
into the night sky of the city. The main components which
was released in the sector was the 40 tons of toxic chemical
along with hydrogen carbide and other reacted products.
The senior member of the factors and the engineering who
was posted in the plant almost one hour before the event
took place knew that the event would be taking place. They
did not take any form of counter measures which could
directly decrease the impact or provide a protective measure
which could directly stooped the attack [9]. The safety
system which was designed in the concept of the working of
the plant was seen to be under design and inoperative which
could have initiated a plan or countermeasures so that the
lethal gas would have reached the air of the city [17]. The
siren of warning in the event to inform the neighbors about
the leakage and the provide a precaution towards them was
placed almost one hour after the leak had already started and
poisonous gas was already into the air of the city and the
damage relating to the event had already started. The
chemical substances which was introduced into the air can
be very much lethal from the point of view of the people and
the animal who mainly reside in the area which is linked to
the factory. The catastrophic event mainly encountered
different section of the livelihood and it was a prolonged
sector of impact which prevailed for a long period of time
[3]. There are no methods which can be stated in the sector
of reducing the impact on the environment and it can be
stated to be very much a prolonged event.
III. CIRCUMSTANCES BEHIND THE INCIDENT
The main circumstances which can be related to the
event was detected with the interview of the workers and the
engineers who was posted in the site at the night when the
event had actually taken into consideration [14]. The main
sector which was detected was that the system was not ready
to deal with any form of event like this due to the factor that
the system was designed for a plant in the center of West
Virginia. On the other hand, it can be stated here that the
excessive amount of the MIC had been directly be stored in
the spare tank which made it nearly impossible to move the
different chemicals from the leaking tanks [6]. The
instruments which were present in the system relating to the
safety of the plant did not work properly which did not stop
the event which had taken place. It was seen earlier that
different forms of chemical event were leaked from factory
which affected the life of the people who was included into
the working of the different functionality of the plant [10].
Earlier inhaling of the phosgene gas had killed a labor who
had directly inhaled the gas and impacted the life. On the
other hand, later on about 18 months from the event there
was a linkage of the toxic gas which directly impacted the
life of the common people. hence it can be stated here that
the resources and the system which was involved into the
sector of the working of the plant and the different
engineering areas which was around the sector was not
working properly which was continuously leading to
different forms of event which directly impacted the life of
the common people and the working which was associated
with the sector. In most of the times it was seen that the
engineering maintenance sector of the working of the
different parts was not taken into consideration properly [2].
The main sector of consequences which can be
stated relating to the event was that there was excessive
amount of delivery of the toxic gas gas, due to this reason
the different plants was trying to cut on the cost which is
related to the carrying of the gas. The organization mainly
focused on the aspect of disrepair and the shutdown of
certain features which was related to the aspect of the
security and different procedures [6]. According to the
investigation it was stated that around 10 safety feature
aspect was compromised with and had been shut down
which directly impacted the standard of the precaution
which was seen in the sector of the working of the different
functionality of the plant. Among the various safety aspect
which was directly involved into the working of the concept

it was seen that one of the aspect was not working since
days and the engineering department had not taken into
consideration any plan relating to the alteration of the
system and the altering the loopholes of the system [5].
There should be a proper orientation of working which
should be included into the working so that there is no
problem associated with the exposure of the different
chemical substances in the working. Chemical waste can
have different forms of impact on the life of the common
people for example in the sector of the nervous system
failure and different internal problem relating to the human
being.
IV. CONSEQUENCES BEHIND THE INCIDENT
The Oleum Gas leak case tragedy can be
considered as one of the sector of the event which is related
to the faulty engineering which had resulted in a major loss
of life of the people. The main area which was affected due
to the incident was seen in about 40 sq.kms from the point
of origin of the leakage of the gas [6]. The effect of the
event was seen in the sector of the loss of life of the people
of around thousand and over 500 thousand people faced
acute vomiting, pain the eyes and breathlessness as they had
directly inhaled the poisonous gas. The people after the
event basically tried to ran away from the poisonous gas of
cloud which almost hand in the air for about 4 to 5 hours.
The state of the people when they actually reached the
hospital had burning lungs, agony of chocking and the
doctor in the event had to call out the official and the
engineers of the plant to actually know what was the actual
gas which had been leaked and what was the composition of
the gas [16]. Different workers were directly linked to the
working and in the working there can be different domain of
implementation which directly impacted the area of the
access of the divisions.
The main sector which was seen in the event was
that the organization was facing some constraint relating to
the funding scenario. This aspect was mainly seen due to the
dispersal of the different employee and engineers who were
engaged into the working of the different domains of the
industry [9]. The MIC gas protection can be stated to be
very much important in the sector of the working and it
directly involves monetary aspect which would be
safeguarding the gas [1].
V. RECTIFIABLE PROCESS
One of the sector of the rectification which can be stated in
the domain of the event which had taken place was the
education of the people [4]. The main sector of the people
who is involved is the employee and the engineers who are
involved into the different working of the plant. They should
have taken into consideration which chemical substances are
lethal for the environment and which chemical can directly
impact the life of the common people [10]. On the other
hand, it can be stated that the Government should also
implement some of the safety aspect relating to the
environmental sector of the working so that there are no
chemical substances directed into the air which would be
directly impacting the sector of the life of the common
people. The training of the engineers who are involved into
the working of the chemicals should be given top most
priority due to the factor that chemical waste can directly
degrade the quality of the environment which is related to
the concept [6]. The access area permission in the sector can
be an important move which can be taken into focus so that
there is no unauthorized access to the different area of the
concern which is related to the working with the chemicals.
In most of the sector it can be stated that there should be
more and more concern area
The concept of the training can be very much
beneficial in the sector of knowing what is the right and
what is wrong. Sometimes it can be stated that there can be
different form of problem which can be considered to be
very much inevitable [2]. In this form of scenario, the plan
of mitigation can be stated to be very much important which
should be taken into consideration so that there is no
problem seen in the sector and no issue are faced within the
working.
VI. CONCLUSION
The report can be concluded on a note that the
sector of the event which is focus in the report which is the
Oleum Gas leak case tragedy is stated as one of the most
tragic incident in recent times. There are various sector of
implementation and faults which directly resulted in the
event and it can be stated as the fault of the engineering
team and the workers who are involved into the working.
The precaution aspect which is related to the event are
majorly discussed in the report whose implementation could
have avoided the scenario. The concern of the employee
towards the different factors of risk associate with the
working can be primary factor of concern for which proper
training would be involved into the operation of the concept.
Government laws and regulation should be implemented
into the different section of working which can be helpful in
the planning to avoid different similar types of event.
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