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Calling Attention to Workplace Safety


By Anonymous - Posted on 03 August 2011

TitleCalling Attention to Workplace Safety
Publication TypeCase Study
Year of Publication1994
AuthorsLadenson, Robert
Corporate Authorsof Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute Technology
Date Published04/1995
PublisherCenter for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute of Technology
Publication Languageeng
KeywordsENGINEERING , Supervisor/Trainee , Supervisor/Trainee Relationships , workplace , Workplace Safety
Abstract

Bill has been hired as a student engineering assistant for the summer by Acme Plastics. His superior is Frank Jones, the plant production engineer, who believes in management by strict chain of command, and whom Bill finds intimidating. Bill very much needs the job to earn fees for the coming year. His duties frequently take him through an assembly line area where he observes the following conditions. Workers on an assembly line glue together several small plastic parts which are then placed on a conveyor belt that carries them through a heating oven where the glue is set. By the end of the day drops of glue have accumulated on the conveyor belt. So, at clean-up time, the workers, using rags and soup tins filled with solvent, which they obtain from a nearby barrel, wipe the belt as it passes by.Bill notices that during this process the oven is not shut off. If occurs to him that under these conditions an explosion could take place in which workers could by hurt seriously. Frank Jones has canceled the
normal bimonthly safety meetings until further notice because he considers them a waste of time and an impediment to productivity. What is Bill morally required to do in this case? why?

Notes

Case study from the 1995 Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl. Copyright, Robert Ladenson, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute of Technology, 1995.

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