...On December 3, 1984 the residents of a Bhopal, India awoke to a toxic cloud of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas that had been discharged from the near-by Union Carbida India Limited plant. The deadly cloud infiltrated hundreds of shanties and huts as it slowly drifted in the cool night awaking sleeping residents to coughing, choking, and stinging eyes. By dawn the cloud had cleared and many were dead or injured. Reports of the incident were slow to reach America. Union Carbide, a U.S. corporation that owns 51% of the plant, based in Danbury Connecticut, was in the dark for many days. Union Carbide made front page across the country for months and is still considered the worst industrial disaster in the history of the planet. The official Indian government panel charged with tabulating deaths and injuries updated the count to more than 3,800 dead and approximately 11,000 with disabilities (Browning, 1). The chemical that was released, methyl isocyanate (MIC), is an ester of isocyanic acid (HNCO). It is highly volatile and inflammable and is easily produced and stored at room temperature. MIC, with phosgene as one of the substances used to manufacture it, creates immediate irritation, chest pain, breathlessness, and can trigger severe asthma. If the exposure is high, as in Bhopal, it leads to severe bacterial and oesinophihc pneumonia, tumour or laryngeal edema and massive cardiac arrest. The real problem, however, is that it sensitizes the skin and even a mild exposure proves lethal...
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...Bhopal, located in Madhya Pradesh India was the site of a terrible industrial gas leak that happened on December 3rd, 1984. According to the website by Union Carbide Corporation, they provided help to victims immediately following the incident and followed through on court claims laid out by the India Supreme Court. There were investigations following the event conducted by Union Carbide and the India government that came to the conclusion that water in the tank with methyl isocyanate lead to the leak. A third investigation by an engineer from Union Carbide suggested that only intentional introduction of water could have happened because safety valves would have prevented it from occurring otherwise (Bhopal). According to the website www.bhopal.com, after the event Union Carbide tried to help. Listed help included money to the relief fund set up by the Prime Minister. Medical equipment and supplies were also supposed to be provided by the company. The website also states that they published information on the chemical and what was released with the public and the government (Bhopal). A video put out by spike.com showed an alternative view on the event. According to this site, the incident had an undetermined amount of deaths from the event. There are reports ranging from 3,000 to 8,000 deaths. It also states that up to 20,000 people could have been killed as a result of the accident. From this side of the incident, it mentioned that the initial amount of money discussed...
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...INDIVIDUAL CASE PART 1 CASE TITLE: UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION AND BHOPAL Case Summary This case tells the story of poor decisions and lacking competencies of the people working with the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. On December 3, 1984 there was a chemical leak at the plant that clouded over a nearby town causing thousands upon thousands of deaths and injuries. The chemical was methyl isocyanate (CH3NCO) that was used as a chemical in manufacturing pesticides, when mixed with water this chemical can become lethal. There was an investigation done and it was determined that the leak was an act of sabotage by a disgruntled employee. The Indian government, along with victims of the chemical leak, went after Union Carbide with lawsuits. In 1989 a settlement was reached and Union Carbide paid $470 million to the Indian government that they were to distribute among the victims. 1.a) Issues Identified Improper staffing – After a down turn in the Indian economy, UCIL decreased the amount of training and the MIC unit operated with half the number of workers the design called for. Negligent safety concerns – Union Carbide Corporation only completed two safety audits at the Bhopal plant. The supervisor at the plant had delayed reaction time to the leak. Also, many of the backup safety devises were down for maintenance. Lack of communication – The workers were not completely informed of the gas stored in the tank. Also, the nearby community was not informed of...
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... | |Bhopal Gas Tragedy | |A review | | | | | | | |Abstract: - Multiple perspectives are particularly appropriate for risk analysis. The Bhopal chemical accident of December 2-3, | |1984, is viewed here using this concept. The preceding paper has described the events surrounding the catastrophic leak | |of methyl isocyanate at the Union Carbide plant; it is considered a technical perspective on the accident. | Risk Analysis Physical hazards have always been a feature of life. In man’s early days there were natural hazards such as earthquakes, weather, and other living organisms (microbes, animals, and fellow human beings). In modem times hazards are increasingly manmade fire, explosions, chemical spills, drugs...
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...and developed newer safer equipment, improved its employee’s safety/well-being, and created a safer, more aware community. On December 3, 1984, a toxic gas cloud escaped from a chemical plant in Bhopal, India. The cloud slowly made its way into the community killing over two thousand people and seriously harming many others. The gas cloud was composed of methyl isocyanate (MIC). MIC is a major component used in the production of Sevin and Temik, pesticides used to control insect infestations and crop production in India. This was the first time that a major chemical manufacturer has had a deadly leak near a populated area. This helped show that the community needed to be more aware of what was around them. The industry began investigations to discover what really took place that day in order to prevent such an event from occurring again. The Union Carbide plant produced a wide range of pesticides that were very critical to the economy of India. For the production of these products, a number of steps were required. The first step was the reaction of carbon monoxide with chlorine to produce intermediate phosgene. The second step of the process mixes monomethylamine with phosgene to yield MIC. The third step of the process causes alpha napthol to react with MIC to produce carbaryl. Each of the chemicals used in this process is hazardous and requires specific safety handling procedures (Safety 49).Union Carbide had thousands of tanks that they used to create the...
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...the possibility for single event losses in excess of $100 billion. However, as a man-made catastrophe, the WTC attack suggests that the industry now broaden its view beyond natural hazards. Even prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks, man-made events such as industrial accidents, aviation losses, riots, fire, and explosion have contributed 20% of the total CAT losses over the past five years. In addition, some of the worst man-made disasters such as the Exxon Valdez, Bhopal, and Chernobyl could have cost the industry billions if they had occurred under slightly different circumstances. Even events on the margin of our contemporary history warrant a second look, such as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which prior to September 11 seemed irrelevant to today’s circumstances. Incorporating terrorist attacks and other man-made super-CATs into an overall understanding of catastrophe risk is a difficult proposition. Setting aside the task of estimating probabilities, the ‘footprints’ of loss are disparate and, unlike natural hazards, difficult to constrain. Some events, such as the WTC attack or the September 21, 2001 AZF fertilizer plant explosion in...
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...- DRAFT - International Dimensions of Ethics Education in Science and Engineering Case Study Series Bhopal Plant Disaster – Situation Summary by MJ Peterson Revised March 20, 2009 During the night of 2-3 December 1984, a leak of some 40 tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas mixed with unknown other gasses from a chemical plant owned and operated by Union Carbide (India) Limited, a partly-owned subsidiary of the US-based Union Carbide Corporation, caused one of the highest-casualty industrial accidents of the 20th century. At least 2000 people died immediately and another 200,000 to 300,000 suffered respiratory and other injuries of varying severity. Property damage consisted mainly of contamination to nearby areas by various chemical residues. The defoliation of trees immediately afterward is clearly attributable to the gas leak; contamination in the nearby settlements may have multiple sources, the contamination of the plant site resulted from many years of general production activity. India’s Economic Ambitions When India attained independence from Great Britain in 1947, its new political leaders wanted to make the country wealthier by encouraging development of modern industry. It had strong support from the citizens, who generally agreed that India’s current lack of industrialization and economic development were the result of these colonial-era policies. Thus the new government could expect widespread support for any policy that appeared to set the country...
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...multi-disciplinary science involving chemistry, physics, life science, agriculture, medical science, public health, sanitary engineering etc. In broader sense, it is the study of the sources, reactions, transport, effect and fate of chemical species in the air, water and soil and the effect of human activity upon these. Pollutant: A substance present in nature, in greater than natural abundance due to human activity, which ultimately has a detrimental effect on the environment and therefrom on living organisms and mankind. Examples are- lead, mercury, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, etc. Contaminant: A material which does not occur in nature, but is introduced by human activity into the environment, affecting its composition. A contaminant is classified as a pollutant when it exerts a detrimental effect. Example- chlorine gas Types of Pollution Air Causes of air pollution: * motor vehicle exhaust * power stations * car manufacturing * fertilizer factories * demolishing buildings * solvent evaporation * volcanic eruption * building roads * forest fires Effect of air pollution: Global warming, acid rain, smog, ozone depletion are some effects of air pollution Water Causes of water pollution: * man-made chemicals used in farming * heavy metals * waste from factories * sediment from the river bed * air pollution * thermal (heat) pollution * soil pollution from rubbish dumps Effects of water pollution: The water...
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...RISK MANAGEMENT – AN AREA OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL ENGINEERS A Discussion Paper By: Paul R. Amyotte, P.Eng.1 & Douglas J. McCutcheon, P.Eng.2 Chemical Engineering Program Department of Process Engineering & Applied Science Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3J 2X4 2 1 Industrial Safety & Loss Management Program Faculty of Engineering University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G6 Prepared For: The Research Committee of the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers October 2006 SUMMARY The purpose of this paper is to “seed” the discussion by the Research Committee of the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (CCPE) on the topic of risk management. The paper is in part a research paper and in its entirety a position paper. As can be inferred from the title, the authors hold the firm opinion that risk management is an area of knowledge with which all engineers should have familiarity and a level of competence according to their scope of practice. The paper first makes the distinction between hazard and risk. The two terms are often used interchangeably when in fact they are quite different. A hazard is a chemical or physical condition that has the potential to cause harm or damage to people, environment, assets or production. Risk, on the other hand, is the possibility or chance of harm arising from a hazard; risk is a function of probability and severity of consequences. A description of the process of risk management is then given....
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...Work in the Chemical Industry Prepared for: Professor Geoff Taylor By: Mohammed Alshiha Student ID: 13884145 Date: Jan 1st 2010 1.0 Introduction 1 Declaration (i) I have read and understood Curtin University’s policy on plagiarism and I confirm that the work submitted on the 1st of January by me is my own work, and that the work of any other person contained therein is clearly acknowledged. (ii) The work has been written since the 8th of December 2009. (iii) The references in the work do directly relate to the material appearing immediately before them in the text. (iv) All word-for-word quotes from another author are in quotation marks. Mohammed Alshiha ID#13884145 1.0 Introduction 2 Contents 1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3 2.0 Safety Management System ........................................................................................................ 5 3.0 Risk Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 7 3.1 Search for hazards ................................................................................................................... 7 3.1.1 Systematic search for hazards ........................................................................................... 7 3.1.2 Types of hazards in the chemical industry .....
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...On site and offsite emergency plans on chemical disaster Why Emergency Planning is required? After the incident of Bhopal gas disaster, the Factories Act has been amended and a new chapter i.e. Chapter IVA – provision relating to hazardous processes has been added to the Factories Act with addition of new provisions sec 41A, 41B, 41C, 41D, 41E, 41G & 41H covering all hazardous process industries. Under the provision of Sec 41B(4) every occupier shall with the approval of the Chief Inspector of Factories draw up an On-site Emergency Plan and detailed disaster control measures for his factory and make known to the workers employed therein and to the general public living in the vicinity of the factory the safety measures required to be taken in the event of an accident taking place. This is the statutory provision laid down in the act for preparation of On-site Emergency Plan to control disaster in the factories. Major accidents may cause emergency and it may lead to disaster, which may cause heavy damage to plant, property, harm to person and create adverse affects on production. Many disasters like Bhopal gas tragedy, Chernobyl nuclear disaster etc. have occurred at many places in the world causing heavy loss of life and property. Emergency situation arises all on a sudden and creates havoc and damage to person, property, production and environment. Therefore such situations and risks should be thought in advance and it should be planned before hand to tackle...
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...DSMHT 201: Applied Differential Equation (credit 02) 1. Ordinary differential equations and their solutions: Initial value problems, Boundary value problems, Basic existence and uniqueness theorems (statement and illustration only). 2. Solution of first order equations: separable equations and equations reducible to this form, Linear equations, exact equations, Special integrating factors, Substitutions and transformations. 3. Solution of higher order linear differential equations: Solution space of homogeneous linear equations. Fundamental solutions of homogeneous systems. Reduction of order. Homogeneous linear equations with constant coefficients. Non homogeneous equations. 4. Method of undermined coefficients. Variations of parameters. Cauchy-Euler differential equations. 5. Systems of differential equations, linear system, Fundamental matrix, Solutions of linear systems with constant coefficients. References: 1. D.G. Zill, A First Course in Differentil Equations with Applications. 2. F. Braur and J.A. Nohel, Differential Equations. 3. S.L. Ross, Differential Equation. DSMHT 202: Geological and Hydro-meteorological Hazards (credit 02) 1. Introduction to Geological and Hydro-meteorological Hazards. 2. Geological Hazards Earthquakes (causes, types and effects of Earthquakes), Tsunami & Seiches. (naming, Tsunami Generation, Velocity and height, coastal effects and vulnerability), Volcanoes (origin & types of volcanic hazards...
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...which are basically dead plants and animals existing in the form of coal, petroleum, natural gas and other forms of fossil fuel. I. Terminology - Nuclear fission –splitting of atoms to produce energy in the form of heat. Uranium a naturally occurring radioactive metal - only element in which fission(splitting off nucleus) can take place easily, setting off a chain reaction or a self-sustained splitting of atoms. The atoms of Uranium are the largest and the heaviest known on earth so its nucleus is unstable. Besides uranium, plutonium can undergo fission. Fertile material – composed of atoms which do not undergo induced fission themselves but fissile material can be generated from them by irradiation in a nuclear reactor. E.g. U- 238 gives plutonium 239, TH- 232 gives U-233, and U-234 gives U-235. Criticality – When the chain reaction takes place for the first time in a nuclear electricity reactor, it means the reactor has reached its first criticality. Moderator – used to slowdown neutrons surrounding the fuel core of the reactor,e.g.Light water, heavy water (D2O) Pressurised Heavy Water reactor (PWHR) –fuel used is natural uranium. Heavy water is both coolant and reactor and is kept under high pressure. Natural Uranium has 2 kinds of isotopes - 99.3 % U-238 and 0.7 % U-235. Former is not fissile. LWR – Light water is used eg. Kundankulam Enriched Uranium – when non fissile material is removed from natural uranium. It is achieved by a series of chemical and physical processes...
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...pollution, its causes and control; describe thermal pollution; describe soil pollution, its causes and control; describe radiation pollution, sources and hazards. 10.1 POLLUTION AND POLLUTANTS Human activities directly or indirectly affect the environment adversely. A stone crusher adds a lot of suspended particulate matter and noise into the atmosphere. Automobiles emit from their tail pipes oxides of nitrogen, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and a complex mixture of unburnt hydrocarbons and black soot which pollute the atmosphere. Domestic sewage and run off from agricultural fields, laden with pesticides 164 Environmental Pollution and fertilizers, pollute water bodies. Effluents from tanneries contain many harmful chemicals and emit foul smell. These are only a few examples which show how human activities pollute the environment....
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...Faculty of Economics Seminar paper on the subject: English 4 Crisis management June, 2012 Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a major event that threatens to harm the organization, its stakeholders, or the general public. The study of crisis management originated with the large scale industrial and environmental disasters in the 1980. Three elements are common to most definitions of crisis: (a) a threat to the organization, (b) the element of surprise, and (c) a short decision time. Venette argues that "crisis is a process of transformation where the old system can no longer be maintained." Therefore the fourth defining quality is the need for change. If change is not needed, the event could more accurately be described as a failure or incident. In contrast to risk management, which involves assessing potential threats and finding the best ways to avoid those threats, crisis management involves dealing with threats before, during, and after they have occurred. That is, crisis management is proactive, not merely reactive. It is a discipline within the broader context of management consisting of skills and techniques required to identify, assess, understand, and cope with a serious situation, especially from the moment it first occurs to the point that recovery procedures start. Introduction Crisis management consists of: * Methods used to respond...
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