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Interactive Case Study: The Dhopal Disaster, Tom Murray, M.J. Peterson, John Ake

International Dimensions of Ethics Education in Science and Engineering

This case is a fictionalized version of the Bhopal India chemical plant accident of 1984, which raised questions about plant safety and corporate responsibility around the world. In the actual case—one of the highest-casualty industrial accidents of the 20th century—a nighttime leak of some 40 tons of methyl isocyanate gas, mixed with unkown other gases, occurred at a chemical plant owned and operated by a partly-owned subsidiary of the U.S.-based Union Carbide Corporation. At least 2000 people died and 300,000 suffered respiratory and other injuries of varying severity. The plant had been operating at a loss for some time, the …