Corporate Crime Example: The Bhopal Disaster | A Level Sociology | Crime & Deviance

welcome to this CH to you sociology topic video on crime and deviant in this video we're going to look at corporate crimes and the bowal disaster the Bal disaster occurring on the night of December the 2nd to 3rd 1984 remains one of the most devastating industrial tragedies in history a gas leak at the Union Carbide India limited

pesticide plant in Bal India released approximately 40 tons of toxic methyl isocyanide gas gas mic gas this catastrophic incident caused the immediate deaths of thousands and long-term health issues for hundreds of thousands while initially framed as an accident sociologists and criminologists have widely classified the event as a corporate crime due to the negligence

and profit driven motives of Union Carbide Corporation UCC and systemic regulatory failures the union carbo plant was was established to produce pesticides such as Sevin using methyl isocyanate gas an extremely toxic and volatile chemical leading up to the disaster Union Carbide faced significant financial struggles prompting drastic cost cutting measures that severely compromised safety

protocols Key Safety Systems such as the refrigeration unit intended to cool mic storage tanks the vent gas scrubbers and the FL flare Tower designed to neutralize escaping gas were nonfunctional there was inadequate training reduced Staffing and insufficient training left unprepared workers managing high-risk operations and large quantities of the mic gas were stored on site which exceeded safe

levels on the night of the disaster water emptied an mic storage tank triggering a runaway chemical reaction the resulting increase in temperature and pressure caused the tank to release mic gas into the atmosphere which quickly spread over the densely populated areas surrounding the plant there are immediate and long-term impacts of the Bal disaster including