Discussion: Union Carbide Malfunctions Peers Review 2
Provide a classmate review on their discussion topic :
Based on the report you compiled for your boss, describe the Union Carbide plant malfunction you analyzed and which method you selected to complete your assessment. Include why you decided this was the most applicable method for the malfunction and your primary recommendation for correcting the malfunction.
Classmate post that you need to post comment/ review on:
After considering the pros and cons of the four methods presented, I decided to use the Process Hazard Analysis (PHA). Although any of the four could be utilized, the PHA was specifically designed to evaluate industrial process type systems (Ericson, 2016) . I find that this method can identify most of the issues which trigger the Bhopal tragedy.
As mentioned in the video, there are two levels of safety: 1) A safe initial design and 2) The safe operation of it. The Union Carbide operation seemed to have flaws in both areas, particularly in the safe operation of the systems and subsystems of the plant.
The PHA evaluates safety during all lifetime phases of the system (plant), from the design to the disposal and was established by the chemical industry which, as the Bhopal UC plant, is safety critical given the hazardous chemical materials utilized during the processing of some products.
Although I have not enough evidence to prove it wrong, I have decided to ignore the sabotage theory which has been argued by UC, and focus on the number of errors, design, negligence and corporate greed which eventually resulted in water entering Tank 610 where 45 tons of Methyl isocyanate reacted and created the killer cloud over Bhopal.
I struggle to come with one primary recommendation to correct the malfunctions. It is easy to blame it on the wrong procedure performed by the last worker by not sealing the pipes with the “slip blindâ€. I believe the first action is to overhaul the safety procedures of the pesticides processing and create a culture where many people, at many levels be accountable for the supervision, necessary investments, maintenance and compliance.
Even the most robust system will eventually fail if safety operational procedures are ignored.