In India, there was an amendment to the 1948 Factories Act that came into effect in 1989. There were also the Manufacture, Storage and import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989 amended in 2000.
I can distinctly recall that after the disaster, the GSFC top management where i worked insituted what was known as "Special Duty Officer" between 5.00 pm to 6:00 am Monday to Saturday, and for 24 hours on Sunday to ensure that there was a Senior Manager available on the site itself to co-ordinate top management communications etc. Otherwise the normal route would have been to inform via telephone, the "plant manager and above level " for guidance/direction, after alerting the emergency services and taking emergency action as per the operations manuals. At that time the "city" telephone system was not very reliable, although the onsite system was. There was onsite fire-brigade. It also led to actual drills onsite and offsite drills.
I am sure that some aspects of the disaster had some bearing on the CIMAH 1985 regulations.
The issue in India is that:-
It had and still continues to have the prescriptive factories act type legislation, as UK had pre-1974
The enforcement is not consistent and poor as there is no federal (central) body such as HSE in GB or OSHA in USA. Enforcement is a devolved matter to the "States"
Despite all this, there are "world-class" Inidan companies that have implemented best in class health & safety management systems and also a mature safety culture. There drivers are reputation and also that accidents/disasters are costly!
The small scale industry is the worst regulated , partly using unorganised labour with unsafe working conditions. Such industries also contribute to environmental degradation/pollution.
There has been a national policy on health & safety, but not much progress to have an overarching health and Safety regulatory structure..
Until mid 1990's, most the major industrial hazard industry in India was either central or stae govt owned. That is not to say that there were no private players, but due to the so called "License-Raj", there was a quota system for industrial license to operate. That is why Indian consumers had to make do with bad quality cars, scooters, motor cycles, all other consumer goods as there was no competetion and imports were very heaviliy taxed--300% or more. After the 1991 reforms, private investment has increased, leading to setting up of some of the largest petroleum refineries and petrochemical complexes--such as Tata, Reliance & Essar--who have world class standards.
Another factor is that India had a coalition government of several parties from 1989 up to 2014 that in some ways has lked to policy paralysis. There is a huge expectation on the new govt that come to power in May/June 2014 to turn the corner.