The Bhopal disaster (commonly referred to as Bhopal gas tragedy) was a gas leak incident in India, considered one

of the world's worstindustrial catastrophes.[1] It occurred on the night of December 23, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal,Madhya Pradesh, India. A leak of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals from the plant resulted in the exposure of hundreds of thousands of people. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release.[2] Others estimate 3,000 died within weeks and another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.[3][4] A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused 558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.[5] As many as 25,000 deaths have been attributed to the disaster in recent estimates.[6] UCIL was the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), with Indian Government controlled banks and the Indian public holding a 49.1 percent stake. In 1994, the Supreme Court of India allowed UCC to sell its 50.9 percent share. Union Carbide sold UCIL, the Bhopal plant operator, to Eveready Industries India Limited in 1994. The Bhopal plant was later sold to McLeod Russel (India) Ltd. Dow Chemical Companypurchased UCC in 2001. Civil and criminal cases are pending in the United States District Court, Manhattan and the District Court of Bhopal, India, involving UCC, UCIL employees, and Warren Anderson, UCC CEO at the time of the disaster.[7][8] In June 2010, seven ex-employees, including the former UCIL chairman, were convicted in Bhopal of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000 each, the maximum punishment allowed by law. An eighth former employee was also convicted, but died before judgment was passed.[1] Industrial accidents and hazards have become the order of the day with new technologies evolving everyday and few people knowing how to use these technologies. This dangerous trend is prevalent more so in the developing countries, not to say that this does not happen in developed societies. India has been a country which has been at the receiving end of industrial hazards since the 1980s. It all started with the tragic Bhopal Gas Tragedy and then the oleum gas leak in Delhi caused by Sriram Industries but sadly we have not learnt our lessons from these incidents, with the result that even today we continue to face industrial hazards, cases in point being the recent gas leaks in Mumbai and Bengals Durgapur district, not to forget the equally tragic situation of people affected by the Mayapuri radioactive scrap deal. In this article, we will first try to understand the definition of industrial hazard, then go on to talk about each industrial hazard mentioned above and in what way can we prevent such incidents from taking place in the future. It should be clear to that industrial hazard come under technological hazards and they are different from social hazards that include terrorism, which is the most prominent one. Now, an industrial hazard is a hazard which occurs when one strives for commercial gains in quick time and mostly industrial hazards happen in an industrial area which is making harmful substances like dyes, chemicals and radioactive materials. These industrial hazards have disastrous environmental repercussions as well as cause great casualty to the human habitation in the factory and around it. Now, having understood what an industrial hazard is, we proceed to look at some of Indias greatest industrial accidents and hazards and how they have impacted the lives of people and also what solutions should we draw out so that such things dont take place in the future. 1. The first and foremost incident that comes to mind when we talk of industrial accidents was caused due to a hazardous stored chemical called Methyl Isocyanate. the Bhopal Gas tragedy where so many people were killed. The gas escaped into the air leading to many people having breathing problems, eyesight loss, nausea and vomiting. The reason for the escape of the gas into the air was the fact that the storage tanks in which they were stored were poorly maintained and there had been no safety norms in place. The incident could have claimed much less number of lives had the hazardous chemical industry been set up where human habitation had been lesser. Sadly this was not the case. 2. The second major industrial accident which was caused due to use of hazardous chemicals was in the capital in 1986 where because of the leak of oleum gas into the air 1 person died. It is after this incident that the

Supreme Court in a landmark judgment said that any industry involved in the manufacture of inherently dangerous chemicals or hazardous chemicals will have to indemnify all those who suffer on account of the carrying on of such hazardous or inherently dangerous activity regardless of whether it is carried on carefully or not. So this clearly means that the onus is completely on the enterprise which is makes the hazardous chemical. 3. The third and rather recent incident was the one in the Mayapuri industrial area, Delhi, where radioactive scraps were found leading to an industrial hazard for the people who were selling the scrap material. In the process, out of the 6 people admitted because of skin discoloration and other defects as a result of working with these hazardous materials, 1 died after he had multiple organ failure and others continue to battle for life even as their blood platelet level continues to fall down to dangerous levels. Apparently, these scrap dealers claim that this radioactive source came from the Delhi Universitys Chemistry department which was later proved to be true, but the question that continues to puzzle the layman is that how could such an industrial hazardous mechanism continue to flourish for such a long time? Investigations are still on to ascertain what made this industrial hazard flourish and what were the other sources from which they got there hazardous chemicals. 4. The fourth and fifth incidents are the most recent ones where industrial hazardous chemicals were released due to which many people fell sick. While in Mumbai, more than a 100 people fell sick after they inhaled the hazardous chlorine gas that leaked into the atmosphere. And shocking as it may sound, this is not the first time that chlorine gas leakage has been reported in Mumbai. An instance in fact was reported in 2003 and then later in 2007 with this recent one being the latest. 5. The fifth and the last of industrial accidents that were caused due to a hazardous chemical was reported where 28 people took ill after gas leaked from the scrubber area of Blast Furnace 2 in Durgapur. So, what can we do to ensure that such incidents dont take place in the future? The first thing that we have to ensure is that when a factory is being set up it has a clearance that shows that the industry that they are going to open is not an industrially hazardous one and also that this is not going to harm the environment in any way. That is, an environmental clearance should be there with the industry or factory owner. Secondly, if at all an industrially hazardous industry has to be set up it should be set up in an area where there is less human habitation and it should be the responsibility of the factory or industry owner to let the people know who are working in the factory about alternate escape routes in case a gas leak does take place.