Union Carbide and the Bhopal Disaster

Union Carbide and the Bhopal Disaster

LINKPublish Post

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27161

CSB video - W.Va. chemical leak

As per Chemical Safety Board (csb.gov.in) investigation, the three chemical leaks in 33 hr, causing death of a person are due to ineffective alarm, poor maintenance, failure to carryout proper investigation of near misses and emergency response system. CSB said that the person taking readings near the tanks, could have been saved if tanks had enclosures.The hose for phosgene transfer which leaked and sprayed on the person causing death, as per company policy, is to be changed once in a month, but was not done for the last 7 months. The report says, each of the three leaks were preceded by an incident (near miss- a warning sign). The suggestion of an employee for replacing with better material hose was not listened as it was costly. The incident made it more costly to the company. This proves again and again that safety is never costly and in the words of Mr Om P.Kharbanda, SAFETY IS FREE! - IN FACT IT PAYS!!

Before 1984 accident in Bhopal also, a person died because of phosgene spray.

http://www.csb.gov/newsroom/detail.aspx?nid=383
CSB releases video of deadly W.Va. chemical leak - BusinessWeek
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/watchdog/2011/09/23/csb-was-alarmed-by-series-of-dupont-incidents/
http://ehstoday.com/safety/management/dupont-prioritize-cost-safety-0713/

Workplace accidents - where we are?

I read three articles 1) Why Safety Training is a Good Investment, 2)  Safety Training Pays Off Every Minute and 3) Training Adult Learners on importance of safety training for accident reduction. According to these, in US every year there are 4.0 million non-fatal injuries, 1.0 million man-days lost, every day 15 workers die because of workplace injuries / illness. Training the persons makes them to realize, recognize, evaluate and take effective measures for control of workplace accidents and avoid its ill effects / consequences. As pointed out in the 3rd article, to succeed careerwise, people will be learning relevant new issues. However, we have to make them realize that they have to learn safety aspects also. Otherwise, there will be bloodbath at the workplace as no attention is paid for ensuring the workplace safety. Any decision for increase production without safety means somebody will be hurt in the field. The decision maker may not realize that his decision is the reason for the deaths / injuries. Like, some people say 'to give human touch', decision makers have to give 'safety touch' and assess all consequnces arising out of their consequences.

Now-a-days, in western countries, when buying or placing order on a company, organizations conduct audit including quality, environment and safety audit. Similarly, while recruiting executives, these organizations should verify the safety credentials in the previous employment. For first timers, they can assess knowledge on safety systems, applicable legislations, etc or after recruitment, they can impart safety training. It is not sufficient only to see capabilities / past experience in achieving / reaching production targets alone. Assessment is to be done for SAFE PRODUCTION. Otherwise, accidents like at Bhopal, Deep Water Horizon, etc can happen and lead to closure of the unit or selling of the assets to meet obligations.

CHOICE IS YOURS. WHICH WAY YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR ORGANIZATION.

Compensation for victims of industrial accidents

There is discussion on deciding the quantum of compensation for victims of industrial accidents. The compensation amount should be fixed for every person injured / died in an accident instead of fixing the liability to the company for an accident.

In cases like Chernobyl, Bhopal and Seveso, the impact was immediate and is still continuing. In such cases, we can't decide compensation and cleanup costs immediately. The company has to pay for all victims. If the total compensation is limited to some amount, then in the cases like above, the amount received by the individual victims may become peanuts, whereas companies whose sole aim is to make profits will simply escape. When a company is in the business to make profits, then we can't allow them to make those profits at the cost of human lives, environment and property damages by following unsafe practices and procedures.
In fact, the certifying auditing agencies for quality, environment and safety practices of companies should be made accountable like financial auditors so that certificate can't issued / renewed without compliance with norms.

Now-a-days, the victims of road / rail accidents get Rs 2-10 lakhs from various agencies of the government. Sometimes, jobs are also offered for the next kin of the victims. Similar amount should be paid to the victims of industrial accidents apart from health treatment costs.

When the compensation will be decided for each victim instead of lumpsum per accident, then I am sure, companies will follow international safety practices everywhere and ensure safety of employees and public.