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List two measures that could have helped prevent or mitigate the impacts of the events in Bhopal, apart from those listed in the article.
Supervisors and American management personnel should have listened to the call for better safety conditions from the operators and other employees. Previous incidents of leaks which led to injuries should have been addressed. There should have been better flare/scrubbing/water dousing/containment mechanisms in place to prevent the spread of the incident Villages and neighborhoods should not have been located so closely to a hazardous facility. Alarms for evacuation should have been sounded sooner. Hospitals and emergency response units should have been informed of the chemical which was being produced in the plant so they could prepare a response plan in case of exposure. The community should have been informed immediately of the released methyl isocyanate so that evacuation could occur and affected people could be treated accordingly.
Which of the four major contributing factors to the two incidents mentioned in the article do you believe is the most concerning? Justify your response in 1-2 sentences.
I believe a lack of formal hazard identification process is the most concerning aspect of the disasters, because it means the design and operation of the plant was performed without safety in mind, the safety culture in the plant was essentially non-existent, and a disaster is likely because people are unsuspecting and unaware of inherent safety hazards in the plant. A formal hazard identification process helps prevent numerous disasters from occurring in plants every day and it could have prevented the disasters in Bhopal and Flixborough.
You have been hired as a full-time chemical engineer at a DuPont pesticide production unit. You recall that a few years prior, a major incident occurred at the company’s production facility in Texas, and has been well documented. Describe three process safety resources you can use prior to your start date or after being introduced to the job.
- The CCPS Safety Beacon, a monthly newsletter which gives brief case histories of previous chemical engineering incidents and risk management recommendations
- Process safety management courses, available on the company’s website
- Documentation of major incidents on the company’s website or the CSB website, which may provide information on critical hazards of working at the unit and measures for mitigating risks
- Process safety and risk management information pertaining to the plant, available on the company’s website or intranet.