The accident in Bhopal: Observations 20 years later
Process Safety Progress, 26 (3):
180--184 (2007)DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/prs.10191
Abstract
The most influential process safety accident passed its 20th anniversary
on December 3, 2004. At an international symposium to mark the event
in Kanpur, India, during the week of this anniversary, process safety
practitioners from around the world assembled to discuss progress
in resolving the Bhopal tragedy and in advancing the practice of
process safety worldwide. This paper provides insight into the Bhopal
site as attendees found it in December 2004. Since 1984, many positive
steps worldwide have been made in regard to improvements in process
safety and protection of personnel within chemical plants and of
people in the surrounding communities. However, little visible progress
has been made in decommissioning and decontaminating the Bhopal plant
site, now under control of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Many
plant chemicals, abandoned there in 1985, were still at the site
in 2004, mostly in substandard storage conditions. Mitigation recently
commenced, but unconfirmed reports of the mitigation methods are
concerning. The lesson learned: we all have a responsibility to ensure
that events which follow a chemical accident reach a proper conclusion;
and that no further undue suffering results to the general public
and our fellow employees. � 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Process Saf Prog 26:180-184, 2007