(18d) Process Safety Concept in Indian Chemical Industries: Evolution and Socio-Economic-Legal Changes Aftermath of the Bhopal Disaster

After Independence, the Indian government planned for green revolution and this brought in lot of chemicals in the form of fertilizers, pesticides etc. and their producing world major chemical industries were putting up their plants in India to cater to the need of the agricultural activity. The expansion of chemical industries worldwide had also brought complex chemical plants to India either due to less stringent environmental and safety regulations or the need to operate them in developing countries, to ensure proximity to the consumer and as an alternative to the stringent regulations in their own countries.

The process safety concept in India was at embryo stage, when these chemical multinationals were establishing factories in India. Neither the government nor the society knew anything about process safety except the details provided by the companies themselves to them, even though at a miniscule level. The Socio ? Economic - Legal system was totally not aware of the concept of process safety and its effects on society and environment, until the Bhopal gas leak that struck in 1984 at Bhopal, India. Later on, many changes have been brought in even though a lot more needs to be done on this. This paper discusses on evolution of process safety concept in India and the Socio-Economic-Legal changes in it aftermath of Bhopal gas leak disaster as well as the required changes as of now, to derive the advantages of process safety concept to ensure the safety of human beings and to protect the environment.