...“The Union Carbide Deal” presents critical issues of corporate survival and renewal involving difficult managerial finance issues. In the period under discussion Union Carbide – at the time one of America’s largest companies – dealt with severe shocks to its business and financial stability. The case reviews the company’s efforts to deal with its choices and with the involvement of key financial intermediaries in providing roadmaps to these choices. It illuminates the broad spectrum of alternatives available in the capital markets and the tradeoffs in following difficult alternatives. In particular it highlights the shifting emphasis between debt and equity as the company struggled with its financial demands. The case provides realistic understanding of the viewpoint of corporate financial management in crisis situations and the interplay with investment banks in finding the best solutions in the capital markets to deal with fundamental financial issues. The case “The Union Carbide Deal” highlights three phases of the company’s financial situation. The first phase includes the Bhopal plan disaster and GAF takeover attempt. The second phase is the debt burden, and the final phase is the bank financing and equity. In discussing the first phase, the Bhopal accident is really the catalyst for all the financial issues Union Carbide experienced from 1984 when it occurred until long past the end of the case and its eventual merger with Dow Chemical. As described in a New York...
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...encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Bhopal memorial for those killed and disabled by the 1984 toxic gas release The Bhopal disaster also known as Bhopal Gas Tragedy was one of the world's worst industrial catastrophes. It occurred on the night of December 2–3, 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.[1] Others estimate 3,000 died within weeks and another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.[2][3] 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.[4] UCIL was the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC). Indian Government controlled banks and the Indian public held 49.1 percent ownership share. 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 Company purchased UCC in 2001. Civil and criminal cases are pending in the United States District Court, Manhattan and the...
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...Write a short research paper regarding the Bhopal chemical plant explosion. Your task is to critique, form an ethics standpoint, the Union Carbide Corporation’s response to the disaster, focusing specifically on the company’s legal strategy. To discuss the ethical standards that were adhered by during the Bhopal disaster we first need to understand the relationship between law and ethics. Ethics and legal principles are usually closely related, however ethical obligations typically exceed legal duties. Also, while ethical beliefs lead to developing regulations that prevent/encourage certain behaviors, laws and regulations usually prevent certain behaviors. With a better understanding of ethics we can now discuss the issue at hand. While some people may view the actions of Union Carbide Corporation down right unethical and a burden to society others have a different stance on the issue. I believe the Union Carbide Corporation conducted their business in an ethical manner for the most part. UCC knowingly went in on a business deal with UCIL to produce a pesticide call Sevin. After the business was formalized and some time passed, UCIL wanted to cut costs by producing the Methyl Isocyanate at the plant located in India. While the building was suitable to create the pesticide through purchasing and importing the finished chemicals it wasn’t equipped to create them. Also, the building itself wasn’t located in an area that would be safe to produce Methyl Isocyanate. When UCIL...
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...Like most fields of study the safety has a history of development. The idea of safety and health as a humanitarian ideal is a relatively new phenomena. As organized civilizations grew and became more sophisticated the size of the labor pool that was necessary to build buildings, goods, and perform services became much larger. Goal of early safety and health activities was to increase the working life span of slaves and indentured servants in an attempt to conserve the limited human resource. It was in the 19th and 20th centuries that the concept of the company obligation to protect the workers really evolved from abuses of workers during the great depression, and the rise of organized labor. Consequently changes in the safety health field are often motivated by great tragedies that focus public attention on risks in the workplace. The Goals of this unit: * Identify the historic trends in industrial safety * Identify events that have impacted industrial safety To complete this unit you must 1. Read the chapter in the book 2. Review the PowerPoint slides 3. Look into the Bhopal accident using the video and searching the Internet to answer the following under the "Assignment tab" for : Session 2: History of Safety. 1. How many died as a result of the accident? 2. What has been the long term effects of the accident on residents 3. Look at the total number of injuries and deaths over for any 2 years on the BLS web site for (Take a look at...
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...Ethics is a broad term that people sometimes stretch to fit the way that is convenient to them, but in reality ethics is a strong sense of right and wrong. In our textbook Organization Behavior by Nelson and Quick, ethics is defined as “the study of moral values and moral behavior” (Nelson and Quick). Ethics are a very important aspect in an organization. Ethical behavior by an organization can set them apart from others and give an impression of a good, honest working company. Ethical behavior is defined as “acting in ways consistent with one’s personal values and commonly held values of the organization and society” (Nelson and Quick). This definition is a little more open ended because it gives the organization power to decide what is ethical. The key part of this definition is “values of the organization and society”. This aspect of the definition means that ethical behavior based off of societal values and not just personal beliefs. Unethical behavior in an organization can cost many companies. Things such as wrongful termination and other unethical behaviors can lead to lawsuits against a company. Organizations that have not abided by the codes of ethical behavior have had major consequences, which are shown in throughout this paper. A major question is should an absolutist view be taken towards ethics or should situations be judged at the time of the issue in order to apply the rules the way you see fit? When it comes to ethics any illegal actions are clearly...
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... | | | | | |Abstract: - Multiple perspectives are particularly appropriate for risk analysis. The Bhopal chemical accident of December 2-3, | |1984, is viewed here using this concept. The preceding paper has described the events surrounding the catastrophic leak | |of methyl isocyanate at the Union Carbide plant; it is considered a technical perspective on the accident. | Risk Analysis Physical hazards have always been a feature of life. In man’s early days there were natural hazards such as earthquakes, weather, and other living organisms (microbes, animals, and fellow human beings). In modem times hazards are increasingly manmade fire, explosions, chemical spills, drugs, pollution, radioactive material, etc. Analysis of hazards has traditionally involved engineers and scientists who have produced fault trees, mean time between failure calculations, and other probabilistic analyses. Risk is another...
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...encyclopedia The Bhopal dis as te r (commonly referred to as Bhopal gas trage dy) was a gas leak incident in India, considered one of the world's worst industrial catastrophes.[1] It occurred on the night of December 2–3, 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. The toxic substance made its way in and around the shantytowns located near the plant.[2] 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.[3] Others estimate 3,000 died within weeks and another 8,000 have since died from gas- related diseases.[4][5] 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.[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 Company purchased UCC in 2001. Civil and criminal cases are pending in the...
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...- DRAFT - International Dimensions of Ethics Education in Science and Engineering Case Study Series Bhopal Plant Disaster – Situation Summary by MJ Peterson Revised March 20, 2009 During the night of 2-3 December 1984, a leak of some 40 tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas mixed with unknown other gasses from a chemical plant owned and operated by Union Carbide (India) Limited, a partly-owned subsidiary of the US-based Union Carbide Corporation, caused one of the highest-casualty industrial accidents of the 20th century. At least 2000 people died immediately and another 200,000 to 300,000 suffered respiratory and other injuries of varying severity. Property damage consisted mainly of contamination to nearby areas by various chemical residues. The defoliation of trees immediately afterward is clearly attributable to the gas leak; contamination in the nearby settlements may have multiple sources, the contamination of the plant site resulted from many years of general production activity. India’s Economic Ambitions When India attained independence from Great Britain in 1947, its new political leaders wanted to make the country wealthier by encouraging development of modern industry. It had strong support from the citizens, who generally agreed that India’s current lack of industrialization and economic development were the result of these colonial-era policies. Thus the new government could expect widespread support for any policy that appeared to set the country...
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...suffered respiratory or got other injuries. The incident started by the ventilation of the poisonous gas to the atmosphere, namely Methylisocyanate (MIC). As the density of the gas is more than the density of the air itself, it has caused the accumulation of the toxic gas in a cloud form but it is close to the ground. Eventually the cloud of poisonous MIC gas streamed through the entire city of Bhopal like a sand storm on desert, leaving no chances for the citizens of Bhopal to rescue themselves The initial Indian managing and supervisory staff for the Bhopal production unit were trained in Union Carbide’s West Virginia. They began leaving for more attractive jobs and were replaced by less-skilled employees. Low production volumes seemed to justify reductions in the workforce though the local labor unions insisted that they were going too far. In the MIC, the workforce was reduced from the Union Carbide recommended 3 supervisors and 12 workers on each shift to 1 supervisor and 6 workers. In the evening of 2 December, the supervisor ordered workers to perform a periodic washing of pipes in the MIC storage area to control corrosion. Most of the safety systems in the factory were not in good operating order. The vent scrubber, designed to neutralize any gas leak through the vent with caustic soda, was on...
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...that of the past. The ethical climate has changed in the last couple of decades. Unethical conduct is nothing new to the business environment. Unethical practices didn’t necessarily bring a business down ten to twenty years ago, but unethical business practices today can lead to the premature death of a company. Companies such as Enron, Ford, Union Carbide and Johnson & Johnson have all had occasions where unethical practices have reared their ugly heads and each chose to handle things differently, with varying degrees of consequence. Each of these company’s bout with unethical behavior will be examined. In July of 1985 Houston Natural Gas merged with Inter North to form Enron, originally Natural Gas Pipeline Company. In 1989 Enron began trading natural gas commodities. In June 1994 Enron traded its first unit of electricity. In just 15 years, Enron grew from nowhere to be America’s seventh largest company, employing 21,000 staff in more than 40 countries. Unfortunately, the firm’s success turned out to have involved an elaborate scam. Top management abused the system to inflate bonuses while worrying little about the deals’ real profitability. Robert Bryce and Brian Cruver, Texas journalists, account various lapses in ethical behavior at Enron by key personnel (Zellner, 2002). In “Anatomy of Greed”, Bryce sketches the corrupt cast of...
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...According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), 28 of the workers at Chernobyl died in the four months following the accident. | Since then, thousands of kids have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and an almost 20-mile area around the plant remains off-limits. Reactor No. 4 has been sealed off in a large, concrete sarcophagus that is slowly deterioratingThe environmental group Greenpeace places the eventual death toll at 93,000 cancer deaths worldwide. More than 5 million people live in areas that are considered to be "contaminated" with radioactive material from the accident | Some people have returned to the affected area with their families in order to take advantage of the government's compensation benefit.Late in 1986, Union Carbide filed a lengthy court document in India detailing the findings of its scientific and legal investigations into the cause of the gas release | March 24, 1989 | Exxon Valdez | American oil tanker Exxon Valdez hit Bligh Reef in remote Alaska. The impact released 11 million gallons of oil and polluted the coastline for 500 miles in Alaskan seawaters. The incident happened after ship captain Joseph...
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...BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY: NEGLIGENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT. “Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) vs. Union Of India (UOI)” case took place in 1987. The main legal principle used in the judgement of this case was Section 304 A, that talks about negligence and death caused by negligence. It wasn’t just UCC’s fault, but also the government’s, however, I would like to throw more emphasis on the negligence on the government’s part . The government acted irresponsibly in many ways. Firstly, the government prevented any external court from interfering in the case. Then it took the case to the U.S district court. by doing so government received harsh criticism, mainly on the grounds of “forum shopping” looking for the “best deals”. However, when the case was taken up in the U.S district court, Judge Keenan dismissed the case on the grounds of forum non conveniens (forum not agreeing). This further adversely affected the case. Finally the case was heard in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh. The result was that the victims not only received the compensation at a much later date but also received a meagre amount. The reason UCC was blamed was that due to lack of safety measure water trickled into MIC storage tank. This resulted in an exothermic reaction which in turn increased the pressure and lead to the leakage of the gas. On comparing the UCIL plant with UCC subsidiaries elsewhere, it was found that UCIL had adopted poorer safety measures. This again puts the blame back on the government...
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...discriminated by civil rights (religion)—only muslism can fly to Mecca (the city) if he flies baptism they were going to kill him. Kern declined the job he says that he was denied an employment opportunity for his religious beliefs the (BFOQ) says that an employer should be hire no matter their religion,sex or natural origins. RISKS were=culture Falocal, Inc v. kurumu p.15 Two companies doing a deal and language was a problem because the contract was translated different, the English and Turkish version contained clauses, which, contradict each other. The Turkish provides that the final jurisdiction of any disputes in the case of the purchaser submitting a claim lies within Houston courts and supplier submitting a claim lies with Ankara courts. The English contract says that all decisions shall be settled in Houston and be submitted to the US Foreign corrupt practices act- places limitations on US business people prohibited from making illegal payments to foreign officials under the Foreign corrupt practices act Disaster at Bhopal case, p. 42, this case talks about union carbide it lacked control over the safety and operations on the indian plant and they claimed no responsibility because 49 percent was owned by intian government and indian government regulations says that they absolve moral responsibility for any accidents Doe v uncoal corporation p.65 U.S. v Liebo, Alien Tort Claims, The alien tort claims is a US section that says the us cours have jurisdiction by an...
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...Environmental Protection - Recognizing the human right Pursuit to save the environmental life. Rashmi Shukla (Author) and Titiksha Shrivastava (Co-Author) 09/25/2012 Rashmi Shukla1 Titiksha Shrivastava2 Environmental Protection: Recognizing the Human Right Human rights, these are the basic fundamental rights guaranteed to every human under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and rights guaranteed to every citizen of India under the constitution of India. Article 21 of the India constitution has often been referred to as the spirit of Indian constitution, the article states that “Nobody shall be deprived of his Right to life and personal liberty except by the procedure established by law”. Prima facie the Article seems to be very concise but through various precedents and judicial dictions the Indian judiciary has recognized various facets pertaining to the article. The article briefly explains the duty of State to provide safe and healthy environment to its citizens as the part of Directive Principle of State Policy provided under Article 36-51 of the Indian Constitution. This paper seeks to marginalize the relation between human rights and Environmental protection by seeking the relation between environment and its effect on human life. The paper also adjudicates the...
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...ABC Chemicals is a medium-sized chemical distributor located at the rear of a large metropolitan shopping precinct. ABC Chemicals purchase large quantities of cleaning chemicals. These are delivered in 205 litre drums and include solvents, acids and other corrosives, and detergents. These products are decanted by ABC Chemicals’ workers into retail size containers (not exceeding 30 litres/ kilograms), re-labelled and shipped in company-badged delivery vehicles to retail outlets throughout the metropolitan area. There is, within 25 metres of ABC Chemicals, a local nursing home that cares for elderly residents with age-related conditions including dementia. Across the road from the nursing home is a child care centre that provides day care for children under five years of age. ABC Chemicals employs 50 people whose duties include the day-to-day running of the business and decanting of the chemicals into smaller containers. Small spills during the decanting procedures are cleaned up with rags, which are disposed of at the end of the day inthe general waste dumpster in the rear yard of the premises. The dumpster is collected by a waste contractor on a weekly basis. The ABC Chemicals building was constructed in 2000 and has been fitted with limited emergency equipment. None of the workers has received any training in safe handling of chemicals or how to cope with emergencies and there is no emergency plan displayed in the workplace. ABC Chemicals is situated on a busy intersection...
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