The Disaster at Bhopal

SUPERIOR UNIVERSITY LAHORE
SS-3014
NAME: Muhammad Ibrar
ROLL #: BAEM-F18-025
ASSIGNMENT #: 06
SUBJECT: Professional Ethics & Values
SEMESTER: 8th
DEPARTMENT: Avionics Engineering
SUBMITT TO: Asst. Prof. Air Cdre. Illyas Mahmood (Retd.)

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Q#1:
Use the ethical theories discussed in this chapter to analyze the Bhopal case.
Topics to be considered should include:
a. The placing of a hazardous plant in a populated area,
b. Decisions to defer maintenance on essential safety systems, etc.
c. Important theories to consider when doing your analysis are rights and
duty ethics and utilitarianism.
ANSWERS TO QUESTION N0.1
a. Placing of hazardous plants in a populated area is ethically wrong Because it will be
dangerous for the population living near the plant and it is against the right ethics because
Any act that violates an individual’s moral rights is ethically unacceptable
b. To delay the maintenance of essential safety systems is against the Duty Ethics. Because
if someone does not do their Duties honestly and fairly it is against its Duties. And By
curtailment in the Maintenance of the plant for cost-cutting Leads to a serious accident.
c. These theories are very important when you analyze Duty ethics tells that you are doing
your work honestly and fairly. Right ethics tells that every individual has their moral rights
if someone violates an individual moral right is ethically unacceptable. Utilitarianism tells
that always tries to achieve a balance between good and bad and always do something
which benefits the larger group of people. In the upper-case study, all these ethical theories
are neglected which leads them to the fatal disaster.
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Q#2:
Find a copy of the code of ethics of the American Institute of Chemical
Engineers (attached), and use it to:
a. Analyze what a process engineerworking atthis plant should have done.
b. What does the code say about the responsibilities of the engineers who
designedthe plant and the engineers responsible formaking maintenance
decisions?
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a. As mentioned in the ethics of the American Institute of chemical engineers that the
priority of the engineer is to ensure the safety of the employees and other people. The
process engineer should accept responsibility for the action that he had done. And inform
the higher authorities so they took possible actions to overcome this disaster.
b. The responsibilities of the designed engineer and the maintenance engineer are to hold the
paramount of the safety, health, and welfare of the public and protect the environment in
the performance of their professional duties.
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Q#3:
a. Some ofUnion Carbide's reports hinted stronglythat part ofthe fault lay
with the inadequate workforce available ina third-world country suchas
India. How valid is this statement?
b. What are the ethical implications for Union Carbide if this statement is
true?
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a. No, the state is not true because the third-world country like India is not properly informed
and guided by the union carbide, they are not aware of the safety rules that should be
followed by the western nations.
b. The union carbide does not give the proper information about the safety to the Indian
employs but they gave the same information to their western employer and this is ethically
wrong
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Q#4:
What responsibility should the national and local government in Bhopal have
for ensuring that the plant is operated safely?
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The first responsibility of the government is that should not allow toxic plants in populated areas.
And if the plant already exists on the location, they should aware of the people in danger and not
allow them to live near to the toxic plant. They should properly set an ordinance for this. If they
don't want to shift people from this area the local government should create an inspections team
as they know methyl isocyanate (MIC), a highly toxic chemical.
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Q#5:
Whatrelative importance should be placedonkeeping safetysystems operating
as compared to maintaining other operations? (Note:From the reports on this

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accident, there is no indication that Union Carbide skimped on safety to keep
production going. Rather, this is a hypothetical question.)
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Safety should be on top because it is the basic priority of the company or the engineer to ensure
the safety operations and there is no priority of any operation on the safe operations. In the above
situation the employers of the union carbide compromise on the safety operations which leads
them to the fatal disaster.
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Q#6:
a. In the absence of environmental or safety laws in the locality where it
operates, what responsibility does a U.S. corporation have when
operating overseas?
b. Does the answer change if the locality does have laws, but they are less
strict than the US?
c. Whatabout the ethics ofa U.S. corporationselling products overseasthat
are banned in the United States, such as DDT?
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a. In the absence of local safety laws, the US corporation working overseas must ensure the
safety and health of local workers by implementing the standard policies which should be
up to the mark and implemented locally in the USA. This increases productivity and helps
boost the company’s reputation.

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b. No, the local laws won't make a difference if they are not standard according to US rules
and policies because these laws are not strictly implemented, they can compromise the
lives of the public. companies should try to implement their domestic safety policies even
if they are strict.
c. If the other countries don't have any laws regarding a ban on the selling and manufacturing
of these products, then it’s not an issue for US-based companies to sell these products.
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The Disaster at Bhopal

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