INDUSTRIAL

ACCIDENT: BHOPAL
GAS TRAGEDY &
JAIPUR OIL DEPOT
FIRE

AISHWARYA RAIKAR
17334
TYBcom. C
SEM V, ISA -1
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
 To study the Cause of accident of
Bhopal & Jaipur industry.
 To study the after effects of the
accidents occurred, compensation
provided, and preventions taken.

METHODOLOGY
For the present study secondary data
has been collected. The data has been
collected through magazines,
documents, and information available
on the internet.
 INDUSTRY INTRODUCTION
UNION CARBIDE INDIA LIMITED
( BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY)
Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) was a chemical
company established in 1934, eventually expanding to
employ 9,000 people working at 14 plants in five
divisions.[1][2] UCIL was 50.9% owned by Union Carbide
and Carbon Corporation (UCC) and 49.1% by Indian
investors including the Government of India and
government-controlled banks.[3] UCIL produced
batteries, carbon products, welding equipment, plastics,
industrial chemicals, pesticides and marine products.
In 1970 UCIL built a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India,
which gained worldwide attention as a result of the Bhopal
disaster. On 3 December 1984, a release of methyl
isocyanate (MIC) gas immediately killed about three
thousand people and led to the death of more than fifteen
thousand in subsequent weeks and months. The death rate
is currently about 2 or 3 people per week. At the time of
the disaster, UCIL was ranked twenty-first in size among
companies operating in India. It had revenues of Rs 2
billion (then equivalent to US$170 million).
In November 1994, UCC completed the sale of its interest
in UCIL to McLeod Russel of Calcutta. UCIL was
subsequently renamed Eveready Industries India.
 INDUSTRY INTRODUCTION
Jaipur oil depot

The Jaipur oil depot fire broke out on 29 October

2009 at 7:30 PM (IST) at the Indian Oil Corporation
(IOC) oil depot's giant tank holding 8,000 kilolitres
(280,000 cu ft) of petrol, in Sitapura Industrial Area
on the outskirts of Jaipur, Rajasthan, killing 12
people and injuring over 300. The blaze continued to
rage out of control for over a week after it started
and during the period half a million people were
evacuated from the area. The oil depot is about 16
kilometres (9.9 mi) south of the city of Jaipur.

The incident occurred when petrol was being

transferred from the Indian Oil Corporation's oil
depot to a pipeline. There were at least 40 IOC
employees at the terminal (situated close to the
Jaipur International Airport) when it caught fire
with an explosion. The Met department recorded a
tremor measuring 2.3 on the Richter scale around
the time the first explosion at 7:36 pm which
resulted in shattering of glass windows nearly 3
kilometres (1.9 mi) from the accident site.
CASE STUDY

BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY

Post-midnight on December 3, 1984, poisonous gas
that leaked from the factory of Union Carbide in
Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal killed thousands of
people directly. The incident is now known as the
Bhopal disaster or Bhopal gas tragedy.

As per official records, the Bhopal gas tragedy killed

3,787 people. The figures were updated by the
Madhya Pradesh government later as the immediate
official estimate had put the death toll due to gas
leak from Union Carbide factory at 2,259.

However, activists fighting for justice for Bhopal gas

tragedy victims put the figures of death between
8,000 and 10,000. In an affidavit, submitted in 2006,
the government said that the Bhopal gas leak caused
5,58,125 injuries that included approximately 3,900
severely and permanently disabling injuries.
 HOW DID IT HAPPEN?

The gas leak in the Union Carbide (now known as

Dow Chemicals) was reported after midnight on the
intervening night of December 2 and 3. The incident
had taken place at the Plant Number C of the Union
Carbide factory in Bhopal.
As the cool morning breeze picked up pace, it
carried the poisonous gas leaking from the Union
Carbide factory to rest of the city and killing people
- both awake and asleep. As per government's
affidavit, about 3,000 people died of poisonous gas
within a few hours of the incident.
 It is estimated that about 40 tonnes of methyl
isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals leaked
from the Union Carbide factory. Methyl isocyanate
is extremely toxic and if its concentration in air
touches 21ppm (parts per million), it can cause
death within minutes of inhaling the gas. In Bhopal,
the level was multiple times higher.

WHAT CAUSED MIC LEAKAGE?

The leakage of gas was reported from Plant Number

C. As per official record, methyl isocyanate got
 mixed with water used for cooling the plant. The
mixture led to generation of volumes of gases, which
put tremendous pressure on Tank Number 610.
The tank cover gave way to building gaseous
pressure releasing tonnes of the poisonous gas,
which diffused over large area. Approximately 5
lakh people were exposed to the leakage of methyl
isocyanate gas.

POST-LEAKAGE SCENE
Bhopal had a population of about 8.5 lakh back in
1984 and more than half of its population was
coughing, complaining of itching in eyes, skin and
facing breathing problems. The gas caused internal
haemorrhage, pneumonia and death. The villages
and slums in the neighbouring areas of the factory
were the worst affected.
The alarm system of the Union Carbide did not
work for hours. No alarm was raised by the factory
managers. Suddenly thousands of people started
running to hospitals on the morning of December 3
with their complaints.
Unlike today, Bhopal of 1984 did not have too many
hospitals. Two government hospitals could not have
accommodated half of the population of the city.
People were suffering, finding it difficult to breathe
 and confused. So were doctors, who did not
immediately know the reasons for the sudden illness
that afflicted every new rushing patient.
Patients complained of dizziness, breathlessness,
skin irritation and rashes, some others reported
sudden blindness. Doctors of Bhopal had never faced
a situation like this. They had no experience in
dealing with industrial disaster.
Symptoms of methyl isocyanate exposure were not
immediately known to them. And, the two hospitals
reportedly treated around 50,000 patients in first
two days of the Bhopal gas leak. Officially, the
government declared that the gas leakage was
contained in eight hours, but the city has is still
finding it difficult to come out of its grip even 33
years later.

STEPS TAKEN AFTER THE DISASTER

It is a sad truth that such a tragic incident had to happen for us to realise
the importance of safety standards.
In response to the disaster, the government brought forth various
legislations. This marked the shift in the consciousness with regard to
environmental issues. The legislative developments are outlined below.
The principle of absolute liability
The English Principle of strict liability as laid down by Ryland vs Fletcher,
was the governing principle in India before M.C Mehta vs Union of India.
In this case, the Supreme Court increased the bar of tortious liability when
it held that an enterprise engaging in any harmful or inherently dangerous
activity had an absolute and ‘non-delegable’ duty to ensure that no one was
harmed, and if anyone was harmed, they were to be compensated. The
Supreme Court did not accept the exceptions which had evolved in English
jurisprudence regarding strict liability. Bhagwati. J states in the case that,
“We have to develop our own law and if we find that it is necessary to
construct a new principle of liability to deal with an unusual situation
which has arisen and which is likely to arise in future on account of
hazardous or inherently dangerous industries which are concomitant to an
industrial economy, there is no reason why we should hesitate to evolve
such principle of liability merely because it has not been so done in
England.”
This ruling was significant in that the Supreme Court determined the
effective control in the Indian scenario ‘to regulate an environment in
which industrial growth was not matched with necessary legal reform’.

The Environment Protection Act was enacted in 1986. The act defines the
environment and authorizes the central government to take all such
measures as it deems necessary or expedient for the purposes of protecting
and improving the quality of the environment and preventing, controlling
and abating environmental pollution. In this connection, the central
government has the authority to issue direct written orders including
orders to close, prohibit, or regulate any industry, operation or process or
to stop or regulate the supply of electricity, water or any other service. The
act conforms to the commitments made by the Stockholm Declaration,
1972.
The Factories Act was amended to include the list of hazardous
industries[xxiv] and the provision to locate an industry. The Central and
State Pollution Control Board laid down comprehensive industrial
standards for the control of effluents and emissions.

The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991 is another act with an aim to
provide immediate relief to the victims affected by accidents while handling
hazardous substances and for matters connected therewith or incidental
thereto. The Act incorporates a provision making it mandatory for the
industrial units that every owner shall take out before he starts handling
any hazardous substance, one or more insurance policies and renews it or
them from time to time before the expiry of validity. It will allow the
victims of such incidents to get compensation immediately, which will not
bar them to seek larger compensation. The act recognises the ‘absolute
liability or no-fault liability’ doctrine.
Acknowledging the need to deal with the cases related to the environment
effectively and expeditiously, the government established a National Green
Tribunal in 2010 through the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010. The
tribunal exclusively deals with the cases arising out of environmental
issues.
After the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the importance of environmental regulation
became starkly evident. The inadequate measures and the vacuum in the
legal system were also exposed. The Supreme Court, in order to fill such
loopholes, applied Judicial Activism. The scope of Article 21 was
considerable widened to include the right to a clean environment. This way,
environmental concerns became the part of the constitution as well as the
rights of the citizens.
The Environment Impact Assessment Notification in 1994 was also a
significant step to calculate risks associated with any project which will
determine whether or not it is granted clearance.
Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Transboundary
Movement) Rules, 2008, provide for means of safe storage and disposal of
“hazardous waste” (which is listed in its schedules) with the help of central
and state pollution control boards.
Chemical Accidents (Emergency Planning, Preparedness, and Response)
Rules, 1996 was also enacted, which address gas leaks and similar events.
The Chemical Accidents Rules seem to have been framed for the exact
purpose of monitoring plants or industries like the UCC in Bhopal.
The state pollution control boards are required to give the industry consent
to establish and then consent to operate. But all that the pollution boards
do is to process the consent and authorisation. They do not have time to
monitor compliance with standards for pollution or enforce their
directions.
There is also no deterrence in the system. The maximum penalty imposed
by courts under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act is Rs
10,000 and under EPA, it is Rs 1 lakh. But only courts can impose this
penalty. So, all the boards can do is to either deny the consent to operate or
issue closure notice for 30 days.

CONCLUSION
India is a developing nation and hence is open to foreign investors so as to
induce growth in its economy. Industrialization is encouraged in order to
be globalised. However, we should not lose sight of the effect these
industries have in the long run on the environment and the health of the
people. India needs to rigid when it comes to enforcement of the legislation
in place so that we do not pay such a heavy price again. UCIL got away
with such blatant violations because the enforcement was too weak to serve
as a deterrent.
Are human lives in India so disposable that we are ready to pass off the
incident as an unfortunate accident? There is no way to replace the
thousands of lives lost all that can be done is to ensure that the ones that
have been left behind can lead a comfortable life and cope up with the loss.
The industrial disaster catalysed a paradigm shift in terms of
environmental awareness, environmental policy, judicial activism and
human rights. It forced the government and public alike to treat these
issues with utmost priority.
PHOTO GALLERY
CASE STUDY
JAIPUR OIL DEPOT FIRE

Abstract
A massive fire broke out at the Indian Oil Corporation depot in
Sitapura Industrial Area of Jaipur on Thursday night. This led to
an uncontrollable fire which engulfed 12 huge tanks. Nearly one
lakh kilolitres of fuel, worth Rs 500 crore just burn out. The
flames, had thrown up huge columns of thick, black smoke
which blocked sunlight. Officials and firefighters finally decided
to wait for the burning fuel to get consumed and for the fire to
extinguish by itself, as there seemed to be no other alternative.
An area of 5 km radius had been marked as danger zone.
More than 150 persons were admitted in various hospitals for
burn and splinter injuries and eight people had been declared
dead. The fire was accompanied with several explosions that
shook the industrial area while people fled in panic. All
educational institutions and industries in the area remained shut
through the days. Even train and bus routes plying through the
area had to be changed. The Jaipur-Kota highway had been
closed down for vehicles and about 20 trains scheduled to pass
through the nearby railway line were affected. Nearby villages
had also been vacated. Residents of about ten nearby villages,
which housed an estimated five lakh people, and inmates of
hostels in 10 engineering and technical colleges and a medical
college had been evacuated in the wake of the incident after
which power supply in the area was cut off.

HOW IT OCCURED
The Jaipur oil depot fire broke out on 29 October 2009 at 7:30
PM (IST) at the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) oil depot's giant
tank holding 8,000 kilolitres (280,000 cu ft) of oil, in Sitapura
Industrial Area on the outskirts of Jaipur, Rajasthan, killing 12
people and injuring over 200. The blaze continued to rage out of
control for over a week after it started and during the period half
a million people were evacuated from the area. The oil depot is
about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) south of the city of Jaipur.
The incident occurred when petrol was being transferred from
the Indian Oil Corporation's oil depot to a pipeline. There were at
least 40 IOC employees at the terminal, situated close to the
Jaipur International Airport) when it caught fire with an
explosion.
The Met department recorded a tremor measuring 2.3 on the
Richter scale around the time the first explosion at 7:36 pm which
resulted in shattering of glass window nearly 3 kilometres (1.9 mi)
from the accident site.
The fire was a major disaster in terms of deaths, injury, loss of
business, property and man-days, displacement of people,
environmental impact in Jaipur, the capital city of the Indian
state of Rajasthan and a popular tourist destination. As per
eyewitnesses having factories and hotels around Indian Oil’s
Sitapura (Jaipur) Oil Terminal they felt presence of petrol vapor
in the atmosphere around 4:00 p.m. on 29 October 2009. Within
the next few hours the concentration of petrol vapor intensified
making it difficult to breathe. The Ayush Hotel in the vicinity of
the terminal asked all its guests to vacate the Hotel to avert any
tragedy. The police, civil administration and fire emergency
services were oblivious of the situation developing in Indian Oil
Terminal.
Around half past six the staff in the terminal had contained the
leak and flow of petrol panicked and reported the matter to
Nearby Sanganer Sadar Police Station. Within the next 30
minutes the local police chief and District Collector were on the
spot along with Indian Oil General Manager, but with no plan to
deal with the situation. The nearby industries, which were
running second shifts, were cautioned to vacate the area.
At 7:35 p.m. a huge ball of fire with loud explosion broke out
engulfing the leaking petrol tank and other nearby petrol tanks
with continuous fire with flames rising 30–35 m (98–115 ft) and
visible from a 30 km (19 mi) radius. The traffic on adjacent
National Highway No. 12 was stopped leading to a 20 km (12 mi)
long traffic jam. The Jaipur International Airport is just 5 km
(3.1 mi) away from the accident site.
Both the Army and experts from Mumbai were employed on 30
October 2009 to contain the fire, which started when an oil tanker
caught fire at the depot in the Sitapura Industrial Area. The
district administration disconnected electricity and evacuated
nearby areas to limit the damage.
The fire still raged on 31 October 2009, in the Indian Oil
Corporation Depot, at Jaipur, after a defective pipe line leak that
set fire to 50,000 kilolitres (1,800,000 cu ft) of diesel and petrol out
of the storage tanks at the IOC Depot. By then, the accident had
already claimed 11 lives and seriously injured more than 150. The
District Administration and Indian Oil Corporation had no
disaster management plan to deal with this kind of calamity. The
local fire officers were ill equipped to deal with fire accidents of
this magnitude.

Safety measures taken against

industrial accidents
Adoption of safety measures by industries to minimize and
eliminate industrial accident is the responsibility of the
management and can be seen in the form of training,
reinforcements, supervision, regular staff meetings, conducting
physical and medical check to screen unqualified employees,
educating the workers about the imminent dangers and rewarding
employees for accident free days. Implementing mandatory
protective equipment’s such as safety goggles or plastic eye shields
to protect the eyes from the wild fire from welding and fumes,
harden protective caps and helmets to prevent head injuries, gas
masks to protect oneself from inhalation of poisonous and
dangerous fumes, gloves to protect the worker’s hand from acidic
substances and safety shoes, overalls and skin guards apparels to
protect the workers is essential to avoid accidents. By making sure
that there is an adequate staff to work in shifts, the management
can avoid employee exhaustion and fatigue. By implementing and
following such measures, the management can ensure that there is
an orderly workplace environment. The workers are to be given
psychological counselling after a life-threatening accident to ensure
that the worker doesn’t suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) and proportionate compensations to be given in
both monetary form and in benefit.

HOW INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT

AFFECTS EMPLOYEES
Financial Costs
Accidents present several costs to the employer, including:
 Salary costs
 Productivity losses
 Retraining
 Compensation
 Repairs
 Medical and travel expenses
 Additional supervision
In one study, salary costs comprised 45% of the total average
costs. Productivity and retraining costs each comprised 21%.
Physical Effects on the Employees
The majority of the accident cost pertained to the loss, either
temporary or permanent, of a trained employee. The physical
injuries that contributed to this loss include the following:
 Retired due to permanent injury (arm, fingers)
 Loss of ability to handle materials
 Persistent headaches
 Persistent pain
These injuries result in a wide range of either part or full off time,
ranging from a month to several years. The equivalent salary for
these losses adds a significant amount to operational overhead.
Psychological Effects
Workplace accidents can have psychological effects as well,
including anxiety and depression, further reducing productivity.
In one study, anxiety affected more than half the injured
employees, while depression afflicted more than a quarter. The
effects also impinged on after work activities with families and
hobbies as well, further hurting the employee’s perceptions of the
workplace.
Employer-Employee Relationships
Although recovered employees maintained their relationships
with colleagues and co-workers, studies show that the employee-
employer relationship can become strained. The amount of
interaction is less, and the tone of the relationship becomes more
polarized. In many cases, if the employee was treated the same
after the accident as before, he or she began to develop
resentment. Employers could counter this effect by instigating
increased contact post-accident, in order to mitigate negative
feelings. This was important because studies uncovered that most
employees project their anger about the accident onto their
employer.

CONCLUSION
An industrial accident happening in an organisation will not
only affect the industry but with that it will also cause a great
trouble to its employees/workers.
The industry should always try to maintain all the safety and
precautions needed.
Safety awareness that is spreading to all walks of life and all
types of organizations has made `Safety Management' a
potential area of research.
It is observed that industrial accidents, associated financial
losses, and compensation claims eat away considerable portion
of the profit earned by organizations. These also damage the
reputation of organization and lower the morale of the
employees.
The ultimate aim of safety management is to reduce accidents.
As the level of safety management increases, accident rate has
to reduce. This research also explored the predictive validity of
safety management practices along with comparison of safety
management practices in industrial units grouped based on
accident rate.

REFERANCES
 http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/850/1
5/15_chapter%208.pdf
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster
 https://blog.ipleaders.in/bhopal-gas-tragedy-case-study/
 http://www.icmrindia.org/free%20resources/casestudies/
The%20Bhopal%20Gas%20Tragedy1.htm
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Jaipur_fire
 https://www.slideshare.net/AbhishantBaishya/case-study-
fire-in-ioc-terminal
 https://www.slideshare.net/sharmasam911/ioc-jaipur
 http://www.esriindia.com/~/media/esri-
india/files/pdfs/events/uc2011/papers/DM_UCP0014.pdf