ON THE 41ST ANNIVERSARY OF BHOPAL - WHERE IS PSM IN INDIA?

Tonight is the 41st Anniversary of the Bhopal Disaster. What is the status of PSM in India? Have we learnt the lessons? My take:

GOVERNMENT AND LAWS:

Till today, there is no specific legislation in PSM in India. The oil and gas industry OISD-GDN- 206 specifies guidelines to be followed. There is talk about bringing in PSM legislation but I have not heard of anything released till now.

INVESTIGATION OF INCIDENTS AND PUBLIC SHARING OF REPORTS:

There is still a shroud of secrecy when any incident investigation is carried out by an expert committee. The results are still not shared publicly. The Sigachi industries  blast investigation report is mentioned in an article in the Hindu newspaper "Though the report was submitted to the government in September, it has not been publicly shared nor has any action been initiated against the company management".

Read the article in this link: 

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/sigachi-report-production-enhancement-without-trained-staff-and-safety-measures-led-to-the-explosion/article70307963.ece

Unless we share and learn for incidents, we will not be able to prevent another incidents. "There are no new incidents".

The number of incidents of gas/chemical leakage from Government data presented in parliament for 2018 to 2022 is given below (Source:  https://www.data.gov.in/resource/state-wise-number-data-received-chief-inspector-factories-cifs-gas-chemical-leakage)

The LG Polymer gas leak incident in Visakhapatnam occurred in May 2020 in AP. 

 

 INDUSTRY:

A lot of progress has been made in the large chemical process industries regarding PSM. All the large players in the industry (Public limited) and major private sector players have implemented either the OSHA 14 element PSM system or the 20 element risk based PSM system of CCPS.

Industry bodies like ICC, FICCI, FAI, CCPS etc have raised awareness of PSM by seminars and workshops.

There is a lot of activity going on in AI and ML and other technologies but the leadership must realize that these are only tools that can act as enablers. Hard decisions need to be taken by management who are competent in process safety. There is a lack of Process Safety competency requirements for directors on the boards of chemical processing industries. 

 ACADEMIA:

Academia in India is now offering more courses in process safety. Recently IIT Madras has started a PG diploma in process safety. See the link https://code.iitm.ac.in/processsafety 

WAY FORWARD:

Presently, the improvements in PSM in India are being carried out in Silos. The government must involve Industry, Academia, subject matter experts and public bodies to chart out an integrated approach towards improving process safety in India. Investigation and sharing of lessons learnt from fatal incidents should be made publicly and centrally available. 

 

 

 

 

 

40 years after Bhopal toxic gas leak, suffering continues

"A December 1984 toxic gas leak in Bhopal, India killed and maimed thousands and led to chronic health problems. Survivors of the tragedy—which has been called the worst industrial accident ever—came to Harvard Chan School on Sept. 23 as part of a U.S. tour to share their stories and to build support for activities related to the 40th anniversary."

Read the article in this link

Delay in Bhopal gas tragedy waste disposal abuse right to health: NHRC chief

 https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/bhopal-news/delay-in-bhopal-gas-tragedy-waste-disposal-abuse-right-to-health-nhrc-chief-101670718622747.html

Bhopal Gas Tragedy Victims Remembered Inside UK Parliament

 https://www.outlookindia.com/international/bhopal-gas-tragedy-victims-remembered-inside-uk-parliament-news-241587

Why Visakhapatnam gas leak should set off alarm bells May 9, 2020

 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/how-visakhapatnam-gas-leak-sets-off-alarm-bells-in-more-ways-than-one/articleshow/75648391.cms

Why Visakhapatnam gas leak should set off alarm bells

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/how-visakhapatnam-gas-leak-sets-off-alarm-bells-in-more-ways-than-one/articleshow/75648391.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Why Visakhapatnam gas leak should set off alarm bells

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/how-visakhapatnam-gas-leak-sets-off-alarm-bells-in-more-ways-than-one/articleshow/75648391.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

INDIA TODAY COVER STORY 31.12.1984 ON BHOPAL GAS DISASTER

 https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/19841231-bhopal-gas-leak-worst-industrial-disaster-in-history-2500-people-die-injures-thousands-803517-1984-12-30

Bhopal gas tragedy: 15 shocking photos from 1984

 https://www.indiatoday.in/india/photo/bhopal-gas-tragedy-30th-anniversary-warren-anderson-374007-2014-12-02/1

HOW THE HINDU COVERED THE 1984 BHOPAL CALAMITY

 https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/How-The-Hindu-covered-the-1984-Bhopal-calamity/article16260801.ece

ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY OF BHOPAL - LET ALL LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST

38 years have gone by and the victims are forgotten! India is waking up to the importance of preventing a Bhopal like incident after the LG Polymer incident in 2020. The root causes of that incident were similar to that of the Bhopal disaster.

Let all your senior leadership and all employees listen to this podcast by the BBC. There were enough warning before the incident happened.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001bs5c

Have  a Process Safety Week in your organization and sensitize your leadership your workforce on the lessons of Bhopal.

TTHE LESSONS MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN. 

Why Visakhapatnam gas leak should set off alarm bells

 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/how-visakhapatnam-gas-leak-sets-off-alarm-bells-in-more-ways-than-one/articleshow/75648391.cms

On the 36th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Disaster

Are we better off in Process Safety Management than what we were when the Bhopal disaster occurred in 1984? I would answer this by saying that those who wanted to improve have certainly done so, with the help of various process safety initiatives by industry. But we continue to hear about many incidents every year that mar the image of the chemical industry. Based on my 41 years of experience (out of which the first 20 years were in operating plants and the next 21 years were in process safety consulting), I think the answer boils down to this basic fact. Some one said " The whole World moves on Vitamin M (Money)". After an incident, there is always a big reaction, but after some time, it becomes business as usual in some companies, and that's when another incident occurs. Can technology prevent incidents? The answer is yes, to a certain degree. But ultimately, it is decisions taken by the humans (and I am not talking about the human sitting in the control room) that cause an incident to occur. In Bhopal gas disaster too, decisions taken far away from the plant had an impact on the plant. 

Mahatma Gandhi had once said "The Earth has enough for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed". Your views, please....

35 years after Bhopal- lessons still being learnt!

35 years ago, on the night of December 2nd/3rd 1984, the Worlds worst industrial disaster took place.

In India and elsewhere around the World, catastrophic chemical plant incidents continue to occur. Memory is short. In the numerous incidents since Bhopal, many of the reasons are similar to those of the Bhopal disaster:

• cost cutting without properly analysing the effects on process safety
• poor competency
• poor asset integrity
• high attrition rate
• inadequate emergency response and planning
• inadequate facility siting
• not paying heed to audit reports and past incidents etc.

What has changed between 1984 and 2019? It is technology. But can technology change behavior of people? In 2010, two fatal accidents occurred at two different sites of one of the World's best process safety managed organization. Why? Think about it!

Even if you have a 40 element PSM system, there is no guarantee that a catastrophic accident will not occur.  Is there a solution to this? One of the possible solutions is accountability at the highest level. By this I mean legal requirements that will make the entire board of chemical organizations accountable for a process incident that kills or maims people. The Sword of Damocles should surely work.
We still do not have any PSM rule in India apart from the OISD guidelines for the oil sector. We still do not have an independent incident investigating authority. The status of the chemical safety and security rating system whose draft was published few years ago is not known.

My thoughts are with the victims of Bhopal - dead and surviving...and I pray that another Bhopal does not occur.

Read my earlier posts on Bhopal:

http://indiaprocesssafety.blogspot.in/2011/01/bhopal-pictures-speak-thousand-words.html

http://indiaprocesssafety.blogspot.in/2012/12/national-process-safety-week-on.html

See a presentation on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy by Vijita S Aggarwal, Associate Professor, University School of Management Studies,GGS Indraprastha University,Delhi, India in this link.

Read my older post comparing the Bhopal and the BP incident of 2005 in this link

Read the then Police Chief’s account of the tragedy in this link.

Another Bhopal Anniversary.....

Time flies, but for the people who died a gruesome death on 2nd/3rd night, 1984, time was irrelevant. Today, we are in the cusp of technological innovations in process safety management, but the moot point is....can technology alone prevent disasters? Its people who make decisions, decisions that may compromise process safety and that could lead to a loss of containment incident. I am always of the view that technology can only be an enabler, if properly used.
There is a welcome change in India. Increasingly, boards of directors of chemical companies are focusing not only on occupational health and safety, but also on process safety. This is a welcome change. Lets pledge not to have another Bhopal again.

Bhopal - Lessons only partly learnt

Today is the 33rd anniversary of Bhopal. But we, In India have only partly learnt the lessons from Bhopal.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/boiler-explodes-at-ntpc-plant-india-s-worst-industrial-disasters-bhopal-to-korba/story-a60C113OGSSvbez8lDn7wM.html

Another Anniversary of Bhopal but have we learnt the lessons?

In my view, the answer to the questions posed in the title of this blogspot is sadly "NO". We are making the same mistakes as Bhopal even today, as shown by the root causes of incidents that occur in current times. Please spend this week in your organisation as "Process Safety Management Week - Lessons from Bhopal" and educate your young workforce.
See all my earlier postings on Bhopal in this link.

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Bhopal Plant Disaster – Situation Summary M.J. Peterson

Bhopal Plant Disaster – Situation Summary  M.J. Peterson  

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

The Ghosts of Bhopal

On the 31st anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Disaster, and with the post Bhopal generation of Chemical Engineers now managing Chemical plants, let us remind ourselves that the Ghosts of Bhopal are still around. We continue to see compromises in process safety management leading to catastrophic accidents.

• For a new generation who have grown up with ISO and PSM systems, remind yourself that systems alone cannot prevent accidents. 
• You must not be deaf and blind to what the systems are telling you. 
• You must also speak up and not be mute when you observe process safety issues. 
• Do not forget the lessons from the past. 
• For people at the highest level in the organization, do not get lulled into a false sense of security just because nothing has happened. 
• Actively seek out bad news...remember the ghosts of Bhopal are still around, waiting to give you a scare....

An example of the Ghosts of Bhopal is the recent CSB incident investigation report of the Caribbean Petroleum Tank terminal explosion and multiple fires released by CSb in October 2015.
CSB finds that systemic failures at CAPECO included: (The highlighted failures are the same failures that happened in Bhopal)

1. A history of poorly maintaining terminal operations;
2. An inherent financial pressure to fill the tanks within the Planning Department’s stipulated time, which was at odds with safety;
3. A failure to learn from previous overfill incidents at the facility;
4. A lack of preventative maintenance for the malfunctioning float and tape device, automatic tank gauge transmitters;
5. An unreliable computer for calculating tank fill times;
6. A lack of overfill prevention safeguards as an independent alarm;
7. A lack of formal procedures for tank-filling operations for operators and managers;
8. An insufficient mechanical integrity program for safety critical equipment;
9. Poor adherence to human factors principles for safety critical equipment.

I also managed to locate a Dec 31, 1984 article on the Bhopal Gas Disaster written in India Today. Read it in this link.

Read an eyewitness account of a IIT professor who was travelling by train at Bhopal station when the disaster occurred in this link 

Remind your employees, including top management that the ghosts of Bhopal are still around by organizing a process safety week from December 2nd every year
 
Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

30 years after Bhopal - lessons not learnt

30 years ago, on the night of December 2nd/3rd 1984, the Worlds worst industrial disaster took place.

In India and elsewhere around the World, catastrophic chemical plant incidents continue to occur. Memory is short. In the numerous incidents since Bhopal, many of the reasons are similar to those of the Bhopal disaster:

• cost cutting without properly analysing the effects on process safety
• poor competency
• poor asset integrity
• high attrition rate
• inadequate emergency response and planning
• inadequate implementation of facility siting
• not paying heed to audit reports and past incidents etc.

What has changed between 1984 and 2014? It is technology. But can technology change behavior of people? In 2010, two fatal accidents occurred at two different sites of one of the World's best process safety managed organization. Why? Think about it!

Even if you have a 40 element PSM system, there is no guarantee that a catastrophic accident will not occur.  Is there a solution to this? One of the possible solutions is accountability at the highest level. By this I mean legal requirements that will make the entire board of chemical organizations accountable for a process incident that kills or maims people. This includes the Director, Finance and Director, HR too. The Sword of Damocles should surely work.

Our Prime Minister is doing a great job in encouraging "Make in India". I wish the slogan was "Make Safely in India" . We still do not have any PSM rule. We still do not have an independent incident investigating authority. The status of the chemical safety and security rating system whose draft was published last year is not known.

My thoughts are with the victims of Bhopal - dead and surviving...and I pray that another Bhopal does not occur.

Read my earlier posts on Bhopal:

http://indiaprocesssafety.blogspot.in/2011/01/bhopal-pictures-speak-thousand-words.html

http://indiaprocesssafety.blogspot.in/2012/12/national-process-safety-week-on.html

See a presentation on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy by Vijita S Aggarwal, Associate Professor, University School of Management Studies,GGS Indraprastha University,Delhi, India in this link.

Read my older post comparing the Bhopal and the BP incident of 2005 in this link

Read the then Police Chief’s account of the tragedy in this link.

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Hollywood takes on corporate giants over Bhopal gas disaster | Amnesty International

Hollywood takes on corporate giants over Bhopal gas disaster | Amnesty International



Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Warren Anderson-CEO of Union Carbide dies

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Warren-Anderson-CEO-of-Union-Carbide-during-the-1984-Bhopal-gas-tragedy-dies/articleshow/44992106.cms

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"