Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Unethical Issues in Business Law and Ethics

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, focusing on the unethical issues and failures of the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) plant. The report details the events leading up to the 1984 gas leak, the devastating impact of the methyl isocyanate (MIC) release, and the contributing factors, including poor maintenance, cost-cutting measures, and inadequate safety protocols. It examines the roles of the Government of India, UCIL, and the parent company, Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), in the disaster. The report highlights the system failures, lack of employee training, and the absence of ethical considerations that led to the tragedy. It also discusses the legal battles and the failure to provide adequate justice and compensation to the victims. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of ethical business practices, corporate responsibility, and the need for stringent safety regulations to prevent future industrial disasters. The report concludes by emphasizing the long-term environmental and human impact of the disaster and the ongoing need for accountability.

Business Law and
Ethics

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Bhopal gas Tragedy.....................................................................................................................3
Unethical Issues..........................................................................................................................5
Factors contributing to Unethical Issues.....................................................................................5
Solving Unethical Issues.............................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Business law is that branch of law that helps in defining standards on the behaviour that
is expected from the company. Business to run ethically is considered as very important. The law
helps in explaining the ways to carry out business and its activities. It also specifies the legal
obligation of an organisation towards its employees and others. The ethical behaviour of a
business directly and also indirectly impact the company and its reputation (Noronha, 2020).
Therefore it is important that the company practices all such ethics that do not impact the
position of the company in the market.
This report consist of an incident that took place in the city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh,
India which was related to the major Gas leakage. The report explains about the unethical
behaviour of the parent company that was situated in United States (US) that contributed in the
leak of the major case, Methyl Isocyanate (MIC).
MAIN BODY
The major gas leak incident of the India is commonly known as the “Bhopal gas
Tragedy” which is considered as the world's major gas leak that ever took place. This incident
was the worst industrial Catastrophes. The incident took place in the year 1984 at the UCIL i.e.
Union Carbide India Limited. UCIL is a pesticide plant which is situated in the city of Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh, India. At the pesticide plant of UCIL there was a major gas leakage of MIC gas
and few other dangerous chemicals that resulted in the exposure of harmful gas to numerous
people (Chauhan, 2018). This leakage do not only affected the lives of the humans but also
affected the environment, that includes, soil, air, water, etc. the reason behind the leakage was
the poor maintenance of the company and its failure of safety system as the company was
continuously trying to cut off its expenses.
Bhopal gas Tragedy
Bhopal is famously known as the city of lakes and is also a capital city of Madhya
Pradesh, India. The city is well known for its greenery and is one of the biggest industrial city
with most of the industries present. The main industries in Bhopal are mostly that relates to the
manufacturing of very heavy electronic equipments,k flour mills, etc.
American Union Carbide who's headquarters are in Danbury, Connecticut, entered into
an agreement with the government of India regarding the construction of Union Carbide plant in

Bhopal in the year of 1969. the agreement between the company states that the share holdings of
51% will be on the name of union Carbide which they will own through its Indian subsidiary.
This agreement was seen as an opportunity for the Indians to increase the economy of the
country and also to provide employment to its people (Bunck and Fowler, 2019). This agreement
stated that India will own the plant, employment at the plant will be seen by Indians and also the
Pesticide which is being produced by the company will be utilised by the Indians. Additionally,
Union Carbide also agreed to appoint a manager that can help in training of the Indians to run the
plants and help them understand the functioning.
The plant to produce pesticide, used MIC gas as its one of the major component in the
production. MIC is considered as very dangerous and toxic which on its reaction with water
reacts very strongly. Therefore it was very important for the company to take measures while
dealing with the MIC gas. It was realised by the parent company in the year 1980 that the plant at
Bhopal was not generating any profit. Union Carbide upon considering the fact asked
government of India by seeking there permission to shut down the plant. The government of
India did not agree to that as shutting down would have lead to the unemployment in there would
have been downfall in the economy of the country.
In the year 1984 on December 3rd, the dangerous gas of MIC came in contact with the
water which was stored in the nearby water tank. This happened as the cooling component in the
company was not working and the backup of it was also not in function. This resulted in the
leakage of the gas and this is how the gas came in contact with the water. The mixture of the
water and the MIC gas at the plants made the workers working , feel the burning sensation in
their eyes. Soon the mixture lead to the explosion as it was continuously boiling and the safety
valves exploded. More than thousands of people were died and injured. The injury lead to
blindness and permanent burns. The US lawyers filed suit in the court of US on behalf of Indian
victims but, the same was rejected as the court did not have jurisdiction (Nayar, 2017). The
government of India also filed a suit and charges were made against the parent company and Mr.
Anderson who was the chairman of the company. But the same was rejected as the Indian Court
do not have Jurisdiction. According to the research done by the researchers it was concluded that
the residue of the pesticide was above the permissible level and more than 400 tons of waste is
buried to the places near to plant.

Unethical Issues
There were many system failure at the plant that situated in Bhopal but no action was
taken for the same by the company (Ram Mohan, 2019). The failures relates to the lack in the
safety of environment, bad machine maintenance, there were no environmental standards
followed, etc. There are three main parties that are completely responsible for the MIC gas leak
that badly impacted the whole ecosystem. They are: Government of India, Bhopal UCIL and
Union Carbide Corporation i.e. UCC.
Government of India is one of the party as it was responsible of making provisions for the
environment safety and also provisions should be made for the people working on the plant and
living around. The Bhopal Union Carbide Corporation (UCIL) is responsible as they were
running the plant which was continuously causing harm to the environment. The corporation was
also not paying attention to the plants maintenance and its working. Union Carbide Corporation
(UCC) was also responsible as it was the parent company. The company along with its chairman
was responsible as they created an agreement and did not took any interest in the activity of the
plant.
Factors contributing to Unethical Issues
The company was only trying to cut the cost of the company and were taking decisions
that were unethical. These unethical activities of the company resulted in the leakage of the gas
at the plant. The major factors which were held responsible for the gas leak are:
 The quality control at the plant was not strict.
 Proper training was not given to the employees working at the plant.
 There was no proper control and functioning taking place at the plant.
 The morale o0f the employees were highly affected as the employees were not promoted.
 The employees did not understand English and still; they were forced to use the manual
books that were in English.
All these unethical behaviour of the company resulted in affecting the situation at the
company badly (Krishnan, 2019). The alarm system of the MIC tank was not working since last
four years and the company had only one back up system while the parent company at US had
Four staged system. There were many gas scrubbers at the plant but only one was working out of
that many. The company was continuously trying to cut the cost so they started keeping MIC at

the 20 degree Celsius instead of 4.5 degrees. The company was also using the temporary tanks as
the main MIC tank had some malfunctioning in its gauge which they were not repairing.
Solving Unethical Issues
The chairman of the parent company must have taken effective measures to solve the
unethical issues at the company (Gupta and Varma, 2020) . He should have invested in building of
rehabilitation centres and should have paid compensation to the injured and families of victims.
As the plant at Bhopal had no framework or policies in India, so the chairman must have offered
his advice on the same out for their experiences. The company had no framework of its own in
India, the parent company must have implemented its own framework at least till the time new
policies or rules were set regarding the same.
CONCLUSION
From this report it is concluded that MIC gas badly affect the environment and the people
working & living near the plant. The company was not functioning at a proper framework. There
were no guidelines or principles set for the people working at the plant. The unethical behaviour
of the parent company was held to be majorly responsible for the MIC gas leakage. This leakage
badly affected the environment and its ecosystem. The employees at the plant were also not
given with proper training and the system at the company was very weak which resulted into
explosion.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bunck, J.M. and Fowler, M.R., 2019. Law, Politics, and the Bhopal Tragedy: Contrasting
American Perspectives after 35 Years. NUALS LJ, 13, p.1.
Chauhan, C., 2018. Post Exposure Consequences of Methyl Isocyanate Gas Among Inhabitant of
Bhopal During and After Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
Gupta, R.C. and Varma, D.R., 2020. Methyl isocyanate: the Bhopal gas. In Handbook of
Toxicology of Chemical Warfare Agents (pp. 389-402). Academic Press.
Krishnan, J.K., 2019. Bhopal in the Federal Courts: How Indian Victims Failed to Get Justice in
the United States. Rutgers UL Rev., 72, p.705.
Nayar, P.K., 2017. Bhopal's Ecological Gothic: Disaster, Precarity, and the Biopolitical
Uncanny. Lexington Books.
Noronha, R., 2020. Bhopal gas tragedy survivors turned Covid victims?[Internet]. India Today
Insight.
Ram Mohan, M.P., 2019. Criminal negligence and director's liability under Indian Penal Code:
the case of Bhopal gas tragedy.