Twenty-five years later, the first convictions in the Bhopal disaster | Hacker News Reader

Twenty-five years later, the first convictions in the Bhopal disaster

nytimes.com

40 pointsdkarl15 comments

According to a chemical engineering professor I took a class with, it was virtually impossible for the Bhopal disaster to have been accidental. Chemical plants use different types of pipe connectors to ensure that the wrong kinds of chemicals aren't mixed - getting water into the tank would have required connecting a "square" pipe to a "round" flange [1]. The government investigation and an independent investigation confirmed this.

Fun fact: UC was involved in a dispute with one of their unions just before the disaster occurred. I'm sure that was a completely unrelated event.

[1] They aren't actually square and round, they use a sequence of locks which don't fit together. A "square pipe into a round flange" is merely an easy to describe visual which gives the general idea.

So are you saying that someone deliberately killed thousands of people? Or what?

I think he's saying that the accident resulted from egregious negligence. Sometimes accidents really are extremely difficult to prevent, like when you strike and kill a pedestrian who emerges suddenly while you're driving slower than the speed limit in very poor visibility. But sometimes accidents come about because deliberately undertake actions that a reasonable person can expect will result in killings. Like when you decide to drive home after consuming 8 shots of Jägermeister and accidentally kill a pedestrian. Both situations are accidental. But in one case, the police won't do anything while in the other case, you're going to go to prison for a long time.

I'm suggesting someone deliberately introduced water into the methyl isocynate tank with the goal shutting down production for a short time. This was probably done in order to convince UC that they should cave in to union demands.

I'd be careful about concluding it could not have been accidental. The chemical industry isn't the only one that tries to prevent incorrect connections by using dissimilar connectors, but there always seems to be a mechanic that thinks he knows better and tries to "fix" it. They can and do find adapters or even make adapters.

There's no malice involved, just pig-headed stupidity.

Coincidentally, I was just reading about the fake press release made by The Yes Men on this subject ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yes_Men#Dow_Chemical )

Five years ago they pretended to be actual spokesman admitting the company's fault and saying they would sell the place and use the $ 12 billion to pay everyone and fix the whole mess left behind.

The hoax made the company lose $ 2 billion and served to raised awareness.

Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiWlvBro9eI

In some places, nations are invaded over 3000 dead. In others, you get 2 years in jail after 25 years... The different values attached to different lives are mindblowing.

  In others, you get 2 years in jail after 25 years...

And bailed out in 2 hours - http://www.hindustantimes.com/Eight-accused-jailed-for-two-y...

A pittance of a fine and a slap on the wrist? There's no justice in that.

To quote Gladstone, "Justice delayed is justice denied." In this case, it's almost certainly deliberate.

This is an interesting case to study, it is not as open and shut as it seemed.

The Indian Government, wanting Indians in more senior positions, pushed UC into placing Indians into levels of responsibility that it appears they were not ready for.

Thus when the accident occurred, many of those in charge were actually Indians... not heartless money-grubbing foreigners.

I have not seen that accusation before. Can you cite any references to support that claim?

It is difficult to find the case study reference, I believe it was in a business textbook I read some 15 years ago.

The human factors surrounding the disaster are rarely considered, as articles tend to focus on either the environmental pollution, or the large loss of human lives.

The best I can find for a web-available resource is this:

http://www.umass.edu/sts/pdfs/Bhopal_AChrono.pdf

It's interesting how little is being done in comparison to the BP oil spill in the Gulf.

What ever happened to Corporate Social Responsibility??? DOW has maintained innocence in the midst of all this...

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