Analysis of Business Ethics in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Incident

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, a major industrial disaster caused by the negligence and unethical practices of Union Carbide. It explores the core concepts of business ethics, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and their relevance to the tragedy. The report delves into the specific ethical issues that led to the disaster, including safety failures, lack of employee training, and disregard for environmental and public health. It examines the factors contributing to the unethical conduct of the company and its denial of responsibility. Furthermore, the report discusses the importance of CSR in preventing such incidents and offers recommendations for companies to adopt ethical business practices, comply with regulations, and prioritize the safety and well-being of employees and the community. The conclusion emphasizes the need for businesses to adhere to ethical standards and act responsibly to avoid future disasters.

Business Law and
Ethics

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Bhopal Gas Tragedy...............................................................................................................3
Ethics in business...................................................................................................................4
Ethical issues that lead to Bhopal Gas Tragedy.....................................................................4
Factors contributed to unethical issues...................................................................................5
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)....................................................................................5
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in context of Bhopal gas Tragedy.............................6
Recommendations to solving unethical issues.......................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business laws are those which helps a company or an organisation in defining standards
that relates to the behaviour which is expected out of a company. For a company it is very
important that it practice ethics. Business ethics are the rules and regulations that govern
business and its activities by helping a company in determining what is right or wrong which a
company is doing at workplace (Bhattacharya, 2020). The purpose of ethics in any business is to
make sure that the company is consistent with its moral attitude. Ethics also ensures that every
individual related to the company especially its employees, are treated with respect and there
exist honesty and fairness in the business.
This report explains the major industrial gas leak disaster that took place in Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh, India. It also explains about the unethical behaviour and practices of the parent
company 'Union carbide' which was situated in United states (US). The report also explains
business ethics, corporate social responsibility and approaches necessary to be adopted by a
company in Business ethics with relation to the Union carbide Company.
MAIN BODY
Bhopal Gas Tragedy
The world famous industrial Catastrophes that ever took place is popularly known as
“The Bhopal gas Tragedy”. This is considered as the major gas leak incident that ever happened
in history. This disaster happened in the year 1984 at the company named: “Union carbine India
Limited” i.e. UCIL which is a pesticide plant situated in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. The
parent company of the UCIL was situated in United States (US) under the name Union Carbide
Company i.e. UCC. There was a major gas leak on the 3rd of December in the year 1984. The gas
which leaked and caused the disaster was MIC i.e. Methyl Isocyanate.
The UCIL plant at Bhopal was indulge in producing pesticides for which they required
MIC gas as its main gas. The company was all the time trying to cut the cost and for that they
were not investing in the maintenance and repair work of the machinery and other equipments.
This happened as the cooling component in the company was not working and the backup was
also not repaired by the company (Sinha and Neeraj Jha, 2020). This resulted in the leakage of
the gas which started to cause burning sensation in the eyes and body of the people working at
the plant. The gas when came in contact with the water of the nearby water tank, the mixture it

resulted into the explosion of this harmful gas. This caused severe injury and blindness to the
people working at the plant. Many lives were lost and the future generations of the injured
people are still born with such injuries and deformities.
This disaster was solely the result of the unethical behaviour and conduct of the
company. The company failed to maintain and repair the machineries and other equipments
being used at the plant which resulted in the explosion of the dangerous gas. The company did
not fulfil its responsibilities and duties towards the employees working, society and the
environment (Ebrahim and Al Hashmi, 2020).
Ethics in business
Business ethics is considered as an art that helps in maintaining the relationship of a
company with other people connected to it. Ethical behaviour do not only focuses on improving
profits of the company but also it builds strong relationships and increases employee
productivity. Such ethics are directly related top the practices of a businessman while managing
and functioning of business. Unethical behaviour of a company adversely affect the growth and
reputation of the company. Such behaviour creates problem for both business and the people
which are associated with it.
Ethical issues that lead to Bhopal Gas Tragedy
There are three paramount factors that are considered as very important in business
ethics. They are: safety, health and welfare of the public. In the case of Bhopal Gas tragedy all
three factors of the code of ethics were ignored by the company. The facilities at the plant were
very poor and there was lack of machines and instruments at the plant which resulted in the leak
of the gas. At the plant there were three safety systems and out of which only one was in
function. The one safety system was unable to deal with the leakage. The water tanks were also
leaking at the plant and the company paid no initiative in its repairing. The tank in which MIC
was stores was also not working and all the other backup plans were already not in function and
needed to be repaired (Parker, 2019). The coolant in which MIC was stored was also not kept at
4.5 degrees and instead it was kept at 20 degrees to cut the cost.
The employees at the plant and the public around were never given any information
related to the MIC gas and about its safety measures. The plant location was also not suitable for
the people who were living near to it. This was also one of the major ethical question raise on the
company.

After the wash out of the pipe it started to leak as it was not sealer properly by one of the
worker. The workers were also not trained and were incompetent to work at the plant. The
company to cut the cost did not train its workers.
The parent company of the plant inspected the place and a report was filed but there were
no necessary improvements or changes made as the company's main focus was to save as much
money as they can by cutting cost. Just after the major industrial disaster, Union carbide denied
its responsibility towards the tragedy and made an statement saying that the tragedy was result of
human error (Chandra, 2018). This clearly showed that the company had unethical behaviour and
their conduct was not at all responsible, lawful and honorary.
Factors contributed to unethical issues
There were many factors that lead to this industrial disaster. The unethical behaviour of
the company lead to it. There were several unethical factors which contributed in the MIC gas
leak at the plant. Few of them are:
 At the plant there was no strict quality control.
 No proper training was being provided to the employees working at the plant.
 The company was only cutting its cost to save money and were not investing the same in
repairing and maintenance of the machinery and other things at the plant.
 The company was not controlling or managing the functions at the plant properly.
 The instructions manual at the plant was in English and the employees at the plant were
forced to use that manual only. The company did not care to arrange a manual which can
be understood by the employees.
 There were many machines which were not functioning properly and the backup of it was
also damaged. The company take no responsibility of it and did not repair it.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
The Corporate Social Responsibility i.e. CSR is referred to as responsibility of a business.
It is about the conduct of the business and the management of the activities of the business in
such a way that it has positive impact on the society (Kaliaperumal and Kole, 2020). The
activities of any business must not adversely affect the society in any manner.
CSR is a process which deals with the operations of a business and making sure that the
company is complying with the legal requirements that are prescribed by the law in various acts.
The practices of the CSR means that there should be openness and transparency while practising

ethical behaviour by the company. The company should practice activities with respect to its
employees, communities and environment. The concept behind CSR is that the company should
not only think about itself and its growth but they are also made obliged to the duty which they
have towards the society and its people. It is made important for the company that they deliver
sustainable values at large to the society.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in context of Bhopal gas Tragedy
CRS basically is the commitment made by the company to contribute in the economic
development of the country and the behave ethically (Party, 2018). They also commit to improve
the living qualities of their workforce along with their families and also local community or
society at large.
In the case of Bhopal gas Tragedy the parent company 'Union Carbide' situated in US,
completely denied the fact that the leakage happened from there unit. Later the company
admitted of the disaster but stated that it was due to the human error that the disaster took place
and the company is not at fault.
Even after so many years of the incident of gas leakage at the Bhopal, there are still large
amount of toxic present around the areas where the plant was situated. The toxic is continuously
affecting the soil and water. The effect of it is irreversible and it is badly affecting thousands of
people who are dependent on it.
In the year 2001, Dow Chemical which is a very big company in US, acquired Union
Carbide company along with its assets and liabilities. As the company was acquired, it is now
their legal responsibility to clean the site of Bhopal Gas Tragedy on the basis of the law which
states that “Polluter should Pay”. The legal battle for the same is still going on on whether there
arise liability of Dow chemicals to clean the areas up of the disaster site along with the other
liabilities of the company or not. Although on the website of the said company they have
mentioned that they are committed towards the principles that relates to sustainable development
but when applying the principle on its acquired company, they are denying to it and claiming that
they do not have any liability of the past events that lead to disaster by the company.
Recommendations to solving unethical issues
Ethics plays an important role in the development and growth of any company. Therefore
it is important the the company shall have an ethical leader which makes such decision that are
for the betterment of the company and such decisions do not comply to any unethical behaviour.

The company in order to have ethical behaviour and practices at the workplace must comply
with the provisions and guidelines given by the government. The company should also
implement those practices at workplace and shall see that those rules and regulations are
complied with by the company.
The most important of all is that the company must have regulations with respect to the
corporate social responsibility (Bhar, 2017). The company must make sure that the activities of
the company are not affecting any individual or society at large. The practices of the company
must be ethical and they should made sure that they keeping in mind about the sustainable
development. The company must not affect the environment as keeping the environment safe and
healthy comes under the CSR of the company.
It is also important that the company look after the safety of its employee working and
make provisions related to it. The company must have professional standards of its conduct in
order to grow and develop. It is also expected that the company must have good relationship with
its employee as it increases the productivity of the employees which further leads to growth of
the business.

CONCLUSION
From the above file it is concluded that the company must abide by all the rules and
regulations and must carry out business activities that are ethical in nature. The unethical
behaviour of the company may lead to disasters and events that can harm individual and their
lives. The harm can be of the nature were the company affect the environment. The companies
are expected to behave ethically and is expected to comply those provisions which are ethical in
nature and do not affect the society at large. Sustainable development is the main principle which
a company must adopt in order to fulfil its obligations towards the environment and society.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bhar, C., 2017. Environmental Sustainability: The Emerging Issues in India's Textile
Sector. International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development
(IJSESD), 8(4), pp.48-60.
Bhattacharya, S., 2020. Environment and Sustainable Development. Available at SSRN 3629134.
Chandra, B.P., 2018. Measurements of reactive Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and their
emissions in agricultural and urban atmospheric environments of the Indo-Gangetic
Plain (IGP) (Doctoral dissertation, IISERM).
Ebrahim, A.K. and Al Hashmi, W.S.G., 2020. Introduction to process safety management in a
practical context. Process Safety Management and Human Factors: A Practitioner’s
Experiential Approach.
Kaliaperumal, P. and Kole, T., 2020. Chain of survival in industrial emergencies and industrial
disasters. Disaster medicine and public health preparedness, pp.1-6.
Parker, K., 2019. Surviving Bhopal.
Party, B., 2018. Formal encounters in two tales of toxicity. The Routledge Companion to Urban
Imaginaries.
Sinha, A.K. and Neeraj Jha, K., 2020. Environmental laws and their compliance in road
projects. Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and
Construction, 12(1), p.04519050.