Crisis Management in India: The Bhopal Gas Leak Case Study Analysis

The Bhopal Gas Leak Case study examines the tragic industrial disaster that occurred in 1984 at the Union Carbide India Pesticide Plant, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 30,000 people and injuries to about 575,000 more. The case study explores the background of the plant, the production of the toxic chemical Methyl Isocyanate (MIC), and the series of events leading up to the gas leak. It delves into the failures of crisis management, including poor maintenance, inadequate safety measures, and the lack of a proper emergency response plan. The analysis highlights the human, system, and organizational errors that contributed to the severity of the disaster, such as inadequate communication, insufficient training, and a lack of public warning systems. The study also emphasizes the company's failure to prioritize crisis readiness, share information, and engage in effective public relations. The case study references key publications to support the analysis and draws conclusions about the importance of proactive crisis management, effective communication, and comprehensive safety protocols in preventing and mitigating industrial disasters. The case study underscores the long-term consequences of the tragedy and the ongoing suffering of the victims.

Bhopal Gas Leak Case Study Summary
Name
Institution Affiliation
Course
Date

CRISIS MANAGEMENT 2
Bhopal Gas Leak Case Study Summary
The Bhopal Gas Leak Case study serves as one of the most tragic cases of industrial crisis
management which occurred in 1984. It involved a toxic gas leak which occurred from a Union
Carbide India Pesticide Plant in Bhopal taking the lives of about 30, 000 individuals from its
long-term and immediate effects. Besides, about 575,000 individuals sustained some injuries
fostering the incident to be regarded as one of the worst industrial disasters globally. To maker it
worse, even of now, some people are still suffering the consequences of the tragedy.
The Background
An American enterprise, The Union Carbide Corporation set up a pesticide plant in India
citing the advantage offered by the place being located in a central location. Basically, the plant
was to produce a pesticide named Sevin and it kick started its operations in 1979. The production
of the pesticide included the production of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) a very toxic chemical
prompting the presence of an effective maintenance (Bowonder, 1987). After sometime,
complaints concerning the maintenance of the plant were raised in regard to MIC leakages with
some previous incidents leaving some people dead and others nursing some injuries. However,
the authorities downplayed the concerns and thus the machines continued to wear out without
effective maintenance being done.
The Gas Disaster
In 1984, the worst of the cases happened with the MIC gas leaking from the plant and
mixing with the fresh air in Bhopal. Individuals started developing uneasy feelings, vomiting
while others were marked by troubles in breathing with some people losing their lives within the
first few minutes of their inhaling of the gas. According to reports, a worker who had gone to

CRISIS MANAGEMENT 3
investigate a leak noted a crack in the slab accompanied by a hissing sound. While he intended to
escape the leaking gas, he witnessed the gas shooting while drifting all over the plant spreading
to the neighborhoods where a lot of people were sleeping and withing a short period of time the
leak had gone out of control. The workers, who were dumbstruck by the incident realized that
things had gone out of hand. Afterwards, the public siren rang and surprisingly, it was shut down
as it was in the company’s procedure to avoid alarming the larger public living around the
factory following tiny leaks (Sen, 1991).
As such, the plant’s workers started evacuating the plant with the control room operator
turning on the vent has scrubber but it was too late as the gas had already started shooting the
scrubber out. Afterwards, a lot of people were being admitted in hospitals with calls from the
police into the plant receiving a cool response that everything was okay. Surprisingly, the
company had in place an informal policy whereby they could involve the local authorities in case
of gas leaks (Bowonder, 1987). This was uncalled for given at the time, a lot if individuals were
losing their lives while asleep and others being marked by difficulties in breathing. The lack of
timely exchange of information between the local authorities and Union Carbide India Limited
fostered loss of may lives as the hospitals weren’t aware of the nature of the gas.
Formal statements followed with the government indicating that vegetation, air, water
and foodstuffs were safe but issued warnings on fish consumption. Small children were the most
affected with approximately 200,000 exposed to the gas. According to a detailed analysis of the
consequent causes of the crisis, the company lacked effective disaster and safety management
cases at the plant level. As such, the incident was attributed to poor industrial and zoning citing
procedures, poor safety regulatory frameworks and poor emergency management procedures.
Among the errors noted was hard errors encompassing of a fault structural design. Also, the fact

CRISIS MANAGEMENT 4
that there was no any worker who was aware of the runaway reactions signals the lack of proper
management procedures (Bowonder, 1987). Besides, the temperature sensor in the MIC storage
were malfunctioning indicating poor maintenance as it could have issued warnings in regard to
the runaway reaction.
Human errors were also cited to have fostered the occurrence of the incident as the
control operator didn’t recognize the water entering in the MIC tank. The fact that it took him
about one hour to notice the reaction says a lot about the workers there as well as their
communication strategies. Moreover, system errors were marked by the fact that there was no
any systematic procedure geared towards improving the safety regulations (Sen, 1991). Also,
there was insufficient operational procedure as the vales ought to have been examined upon the
MIC tank failing to be pressurized. As such, the Union Carbide Industry despite the occurrences
of previous incidents didn’t follow up indicating poor follow up and examination.
Further analysis indicated the company’s negligence with a more internal analysis
indicating prevalence of employee sabotage. In regard to the incident, researchers have indicated
that the Union Carbide Industry failed in their crisis management. Firstly, the company didn’t
have any priority on crisis readiness as the company is said to have reduced the number of
employees working there in view of cutting their costs. Besides, gas masks supply was
inadequate with most of the plant’s safety mechanisms being faulty or deactivated. Experts also
reported a shortage of operators to ensure effective and safe unit functioning given that at the
incident’s night the supervisor wasn’t quick to notice the initial small leak but were proactive.
Secondly, share information tends to be helpful in crisis management (Crandall, 2013). This was
ineffective in the plant’s case as earlier in the year U.S Union Carbide noted a runaway reaction
which was deemed to happen but it was not communicated to the India plant. Besides, there was

CRISIS MANAGEMENT 5
untimely exchange of information between the workers in the plant, the senior officials and the
local authorities citing the company’s information policy of not communicating to the local
authorities in regard to small leaks. Moreover, the health officials in Bhopal were not aware of
what they were dealing with as no information was communicated. This prevented them to
provide the best antidotes to the victims.
In addition, the company’s crisis management efforts were not based on an effective
contingency plan, prompting a question mark in regard to the company’s organizational values.
This stems from the lack of rehearse emergency procedures as the company did not have a
contingent emergency plan in place. As such, the plant’s employees were largely uneducated or
untrained in regard to handling emergency cases. Moreover, they didn’t engage in any public
relations campaign which could have fostered effective communication to the public about the
incident by warning a and making them aware. By communicating to the public, they would
have prevented some potential damages from the crisis (Crandall, 2013). Moreover, they could
have won the public’s trust in regard to how they were handling the crisis. However, the fact that
Union Carbide plant didn’t have in place any effective public warning system or public
education about the risk at hand fostered the intense nature of the crisis.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT 6
References
Bowonder, B. (1987). An analysis of the Bhopal accident. Project Appraisal, 2(3), 157-168.
Crandall, W. R., Parnell, J. A., & Spillan, J. E. (2013). Crisis management: Leading in the new
strategy landscape. Sage Publications.
Sen, F., & Egelhoff, W. G. (1991). Six years and counting: Learning from crisis management at
Bhopal. Public Relations Review, 17(1), 69-83.