The American chemical industry, which takes great pride in its safety record, was caught off guard when toxic gas from a Union Carbide plant claimed 2,000 lives in Bhopal , India, 14 months ago.

The Chemical Manufacturers Association and many companies in the United States moved quickly to assure the disaster would not be repeated. Their actions and those by government agencies fell into two basic areas - prevention of a major accident and preparedness in case one happens.

It remains to be seen whether all this activity - based largely on the concept that industry and local government can handle the problem voluntarily - will head off new federal regualtions.

As Edwin C. Holmer, president of Exxon Chemical Co., told a CMA meeting last June, "Bhopal placed the chemical industry under an intense microscope of public and congressional scrutiny."

David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council said preparing for emergencies is good but that all companies are not being required to adopt the extra preventive measures that some are taking voluntarily.

Some chemical industry officials concede new regulations may be unavoidable to force all companies to follow industry leaders. "One likes to feel it's not necessary but there are companies and situations where that's going to have to come to be," said Bill Beck, Du Pont environmental consultant.

The centerpiece of the industry's reaction to Bhopal is CMA's Community Awareness and Emergency Response program - CAER - that urges plant officials to give community representatives information about hazardous chemicals they use and to coordinate emergency response preparations for a major accident.

Jon Fisher, research director of the Texas Chemical Council, said CAER will be fully implemented here by mid-year. A number of companies, such as Dow Chemical Co. at Freeport, have already taken steps to put the program in place.

Last fall, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a similar program to advise local officials on emergency preparedness. EPA provided profiles of 402 chemicals that can kill or injure in a major accidental release, and it is encouraging local officials to find out which ones are present in their communities.

So far, however, Houston and Harris County pollution control officials have no plans to use the list of 402 chemicals, as EPA recommends. And Max McRae, who heads the Houston Fire Department's hazardous materials response team, said he does not want to duplicate industry's CAER program to learn which dangerous chemicals are here.

The major federal effort in the area of prevention is a series of special inspections at chemical plants by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The pilot program began a few weeks ago in the Houston area and at seven other cities through the country. Gerald Baty, OSHA area director, said the inspections will look at the uses of one very hazardous chemical at each of 50 to 60 plants in this 26-county area.

The Houston Health Department conducted some safety reviews at local plants after the Bhopal tragedy, but pollution control director Herbert McKee said more city inspectors would produce only minor improvements. The Texas Air Control Board has considered plant safety since 1978 in issuing permits for new and modified pollution sources.

The CMA says "virtually all" chemical companies reviewed safety measures after Bhopal . Some have improved equipment and procedures, not only to avoid an immediately dangerous leak, but to reduce releases of substances of other pollutants. Among recent actions by companies on the upper Texas coast:

Monsanto appointed a company-wide safety task force, which initiated a number of safety improvements. At the Chocolate Bayou plant near Alvin and the Texas City plant, storage of several highly toxic chemicals was greatly reduced or eliminated. The company's manufacturing processes are being monitored more closely, and there are tougher standards for transporting toxic materials.

The "biggest single thing" Exxon did at its Baytown complex was to assume a leadership role in the CAER program in that city, said spokesman Ron Embry. Although not prompted by Bhopal , the company also is modernizing its Baytown refinery, including the addition of $38 million in pollution control equipment. Exxon's two chemical plants there have reduced air emissions by 60 percent since 1980 by such steps as frequently rechecking control equipment, spokeswoman Susan Szita-Gore said.

At Shell's Houston Ship Channel complex, "Bhopal caused us all to pause and look again and see what we could do better," said environmental adviser Chuck Rivers. The inspection and maintenance program for safety equipment was re-examined. The company is using better equipment than federal regulations require to reduce routine releases of two chemicals that have been linked to cancer - benzene and vinyl chloride.

A top priority at Dow in 1985 was reduction of all spills of toxic chemicals, said Larry Wright, vice president in charge of the company's Texas operations. As a result, reports to a national center that keeps track of certain toxic accidents were cut by about 40 percent. A reassessment of the safety program led to more inspections of pumps, valves and other equipment that might leak.

Du Pont had already planned before Bhopal to stop transporting large amounts of methyl isocyanate - the chemical that leaked in India - to its La Porte plant. A new system was put in place last year to make very small amounts of the chemical onsite and use it immediately in a production process.