On December 3, 1984, a chemical leak occurred at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. The leaking cloud of methyl isocyanate (MIC) killed thousands of people living near the plant, injured tens of thousands more, and contaminated water and soil within a one-mile radius of the facility.
This disaster occurred when water entered a tank containing the MIC through leaking valves. The mixture of water and MIC created a tremendous amount of heat and a runaway reaction that released the toxic cloud of gas into the surrounding community. Union Carbide eventually paid $470 million to compensate the victims of this tragedy.
As a result of this worst industrial disaster on record, governments around the world began adopting emergency response planning requirements for state and local governments.
In the U.S., the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created regulations designed to require employers to prevent and plan for similar emergencies. In this course, you will learn how you can use these planning requirements to protect people, property and the environment from the type of disaster that occurred in Bhopal, as well as other emergencies that might impact your workplace.
The course focuses on the plans that facilities must prepare to protect their employees and the surrounding community from potential emergencies. Participants will learn how to use the National Response Team's guide for developing an Emergency Response Plan to cover fires, explosions, hazardous materials incidents, technical rescues, emergency medical incidents, natural disasters, and acts of terrorism.