This is an old article that highlighted a major event that happened in India. In 1984, safety was not a big concern to industries, neither were people’s lives. Fortunately, nowadays we have international organizations such as the UN and OSHA in the United States to keep an eye on these factories. Now we go back to the question: Are they really any safer? Have industries really put safety on top of their list? Sure it has been 30 years since this disaster, but that does not necessarily mean industries has changed their ethics and looking towards “social responsibility”.
As we know, industries choose developing countries for production because material, labor, and land are cheap. What people don’t realize is why industries doesn’t put safety as a major concern like they do in America. Safety features for major chemical factories are complex and costly. If something does go wrong, the company will potentially be loosing millions or billions of dollars to lawsuits. In developing countries, difficult to say, lives does not “worth as much”. Such incident might save an industry billions of dollars.
Even today, many chemical factories are still running in developing countries. How do we know if they meet the safety requirements? These factories manufactures products we use in our daily lives. What must industries do to be more responsible while generating enough profit to maintain its economy?
References:
“26 Years After Bhopal: Are Chemical Plants Any Safer?.” Business Ethics RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. <http://business-ethics.com/2011/02/20/132226-years-after-bhopal-are-chemical-plants-any-safer>.