BA Business: Business Law and Ethics - Bhopal Gas Tragedy Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, a major industrial disaster that occurred in Bhopal, India, in 1984. It delves into the unethical practices of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) and Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), highlighting the company's negligence in safety, maintenance, and worker training. The report examines the ethical issues through the lens of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) code of conduct, emphasizing the company's failure to prioritize safety, health, and welfare. Furthermore, it explores the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and how UCC and UCIL failed to meet their obligations to society and the environment. The report concludes that the ethical failures of the company led to the tragic event, emphasizing the importance of ethical conduct and social responsibility in business operations and its impact on the environment and the people.

Business Law and
Ethics

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Bhopal Gas Tragedy....................................................................................................................3
Ethics in Business.......................................................................................................................4
Ethical issues which lead to Bhopal Gas tragedy........................................................................4
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)......................................................................................5
CSR in the case of Bhopal Gas Disaster.....................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Business ethics are the code of conduct which helps in the governance of any business
and also the activities which are practised by them. There are many laws that are needed in the
governance of business but the only law which is made obligatory upon all the businesses are the
law of ethics. The ethics is the behaviour and conduct of any business organisation towards other
organisation, its employees and also with the people an organisation is associated with like: its
investors, suppliers, etc. It is important the company practise ethically while doing its business as
the ethical conduct or behaviour of the company directly affect the company in various ways
(Reddy and Yadav, 2017) . It can also cause damage to the reputation of the company and also
its downfall.
This report consist of the Methyl Isocyanate Gas leak incident that took place in Bhopal
on 3rd December, 1984 which is a plant situated in Madhya Pradesh, India. This report explains
the unethical practices of the company which were lacking and also the social responsibilities
which Union Carbide Company (UCC) and Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) neglected
while carrying out business and its activities.
MAIN BODY
Bhopal Gas Tragedy
The world's most famous industrial catastrophes took place in 1984 on December 3rd.
The disaster took place in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India due to the methyl Isocyanate (MIC)
gas leak at the plant of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) which was dealing with the
production of pesticides. To produce MIC the company was using very dangerous gas i.e. MIC.
The company's practices were unethical and the management was not working up to the
standards which were expected out of them. The quality of the products and machines used at the
plant were of very poor quality and the same were never replaced or repaired by the management
of the company (Kulkarni and et. al., 2019).
The cooling component used for maintaining the temperature of the MIC was not
working and the temperature of it was also increased from that of the actual temperature needed.
This was the reason of the leakage of the dangerous MIC gas. When the gas was leaked. Soon
people working stated to feel sensational burning on their skin and irritation. The reaction of the
gas with water tank at the plant lead the mixture to explode as its mixture is very dangerous.

Many died, injured, etc. and also the environment was majorly harmed with the
poisonous explosion. All the act of the company was unethical as they were neglecting their
duties towards the company. The company also was neglecting its ethical conduct which was
expected to be present with respect to the society at large and also its social responsibility which
also relates to the society and environment.
Ethics in Business
Business ethics is the behaviour of the organisation and also it includes conduct towards
other organisations and the various people to which it its in relation with. For e.g. its employees,
clients, investors, suppliers, etc. ethics means conduct of an organisation towards others. Ethics
plays very important role as this is one of the way through which business can grow and develop.
Ethics in business is must as unethical behaviour of the company impact the growth and success
of it which could further result in shutting down of the company.
Ethical issues which lead to Bhopal Gas tragedy
There were many ethical issues which were raised in the case of Bhopal Gas tragedy.
These issues in the case were analysed based on the National Society of Professional Engineers
(NSPE) ethical code of conduct. The ethical code of NSPE includes majorly three points which
are held to be very important to be considered by the company (Kally, 2020). They are: safety,
health and welfare of the people. In the famous case of Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the important points
which were considered to be very important by the NSPE were all neglected and there was no
attention paid to them at all. The very main reason due to which the leakage took place was the
unethical behaviour of the company as it was not repairing the machineries and maintaining
them. The quality of the instruments that were being used at the industry was very poor and most
of them were not even in working position. In the industry there were three safety systems but
two of them were not in function and the whole responsibility of safety was only on one system.
One system alone was not able to cope with the leakage of MIC and this resulted into the
explosion that happened at the plant.
This shows that the company was practising and running its business unethically. The
company was not gaining any profit from the production of pesticides so therefore they were
constantly trying to cut the cost off by not repairing the broken machines, not providing proper
training to the workers working at the plant, etc. The water spray was not working and the most
important of all was the coolant in which MIC was stored was also not working. The temperature

at which MIC was actually stored is 4.5 degree Celsius but, the company in an effort to cut the
cost kept MIC gas at 20 degree Celsius. This is the most disastrous and dangerous act committed
by the company.
The ethical code of conduct of the NSPE clearly mentions that the people should get
involved in the task in which they are specialised in and have knowledge about it (Didier, 2019).
But the practices of the company were so unethical that the company did not even invest much
money in the training of its worker as they wanted to cut the cost off. The workers were given
training for only 15 days instead of three or four months training. The manual which was present
at the company was also in English language which was of no use as the workers did not have
knowledge of the said language.
The parent company UCC came for the inspection at the UCIL plant and a critical report
was drawn . The report clearly stated that the company was in loss and no profit was made by the
company. The report also included the list of all the machines and equipments which were
necessary to be repaired and many other things were elaborately mentioned by them. UCIL
neglected the whole reports and nothing was done on their part and UCC too did not care to take
another look at the condition of the company. These all practices of the company were all ethical
and lead to the leakage of MIC at the plant.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
CSR i.e. corporate social responsibility means that the company has some obligations
towards the society and its people which it has to fulfil. This obligation comes under the ethical
practises of the company. The business organisations are expected to adopt provisions that are
helpful for the company with respect to the society at large and also the environment. It is the
obligatory duty of any company to cause no harm to the environment and indulge themselves in
such practices which do not adversely damage or harm nature. It is important that the company
follow CSR so as to retain its position in the market and achieve success.
CSR in the case of Bhopal Gas Disaster
Corporate social responsibility is an obligation that arises when the activities of any
business can either directly or indirectly affect the environment or society at large. CSR is an
obligatory duty to which companies are binding (Adèr, 2020).
In Bhopal Gas tragedy, UCC and UCIL both neglected their duties toward the company
and the practices of the company were unethical and against the rule of CSR. The UCC denied

its responsibility towards the disaster and said that the disaster was due to the error of humans.
Many lives were destroyed, people suffered permanent injuries, etc. but the company did not
ethically took the responsibility of the tragedy (Sharifi and Saraie, 2017). The nature and the
environment was harmed, there was an imbalance in the ecosystem due to the unethical practices
of the company.
The environment was so badly harmed that the toxic residue is still present in the near by
areas which is continuously damaging water, soil, air, which is affecting the lives of the people
who have no other option than living there are be dependant on those resources. A company's
such behaviour is highly irresponsible, unlawful and not justified.
CONCLUSION
From this report it is concluded that the ethics in business creates an obligatory duty and
responsibility on the company. The companies even if do not wishes, but have to includes
provisions related to the ethical conduct and behaviour which the country expects out of the
company. The main of all the ethical practices is the health, safety and welfare of the people
which is mandatory for the companies to consider. Unethical behaviour of the company can be
proved dangerous for the company itself and the company will have to suffer the consequences if
the situation gets worse.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Adèr, M.J., 2020. The state of the art and practice in improvement planning for ethics, social
and environmental topics (Master's thesis).
Didier, C., 2019. Engineering and Business Ethics: Revisiting the Higher Aims of
Professionalism. In The Engineering-Business Nexus (pp. 103-123). Springer, Cham.
Kally, K.K., 2020. A Critical Study on Corporate Criminal Liability with Special Reference to
US and Indian Laws. Available at SSRN 3524189.
Kulkarni and et. al., 2019, November. Proactive Management of Occupational Health using
Fatigue Risk Assessment. In Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition &
Conference. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Reddy, S. and Yadav, S.K., 2017. Can law ensure services?. Disaster Law: Emerging
Thresholds.
Sharifi, N. and Saraie, H., 2017. Identify the types of sanction of business ethics in the market
(Study of the three generations in Babol). Sociological Cultural Studies, 8(1), pp.61-84.