A shameful and tragic event for the country and for all of its people. According to the news, the reason behind Turkey’s biggest mine “accident” that happened in Soma Eynez/Karanlıkdere Coal Mine was a malfunction in the electrical circuits of a power distributor which caused a huge fire. 787 people were stuck underground, around 90 of them were injured and 301 of them never even made it out alive because of carbon monoxide poisoning. There are certain questions that flood our minds. For example, do these people have to risk their lives every day just so their boss can earn more? Are they fully aware of the conditions they work under? Can they really refuse these conditions? Could the company have implemented more realistic security and safety measures? All those matters must be argued to understand the ethical dilemmas present in this case. First of all, the miners are also people that have the right to live. No one should be forced directly or indirectly to work under dangerous conditions. As with all other professions, miners should also have standards that enable them to work under acceptable conditions. Now the relativity of the term acceptable is another matter, but the point stands. Also the companies that rule the mining industry …show more content…
The company was warned about possible dangers, yet they decided to increase the production rate in spite of the poor infrastructure and took no precautions whatsoever. Their greedy actions led to the death of 301 people. They thought of these individuals as simple variables, numbers in an equation and did what was “right” for the company. What they did was morally wrong and just a few people were put on trial. The blame is on the whole company as it didn’t do its responsibility to take care of its workers and simply overlooked the lack of precautions and the dangerous working environment which eventually caused 301 people to lose their
Ethics is the guiding force in any respectable organization. With a moral compass, especially in the leadership of organization, a company can become compromised and fall into a quagmire of legal issues, a tarnished reputation, and devaluation of company stock if it is a publically traded company. In pursuit of examine my own ethical lens I will analyze the ethical traits of an admired leader, my own traits as exhibited in the Ethical Lens Inventory, and how I make a decision concerning a particular ethical dilemma.
The ethical dilemma happened because the leadership within the company
After the interview, Mark is faced with an additional ethical dilemma, the knowledge of other workers working in the plant under different names. Now, the human resource specialist must face, whether the plant should stop hiring temporary illegal workers and run into staffing problems, or continue hiring these workers and face legal allegations by breaking the law.
In 1907, two miles south of Centralia, Illinois was the Centralia Mine No. 5. The Mine was there to provide coal during World War II. This particular mine employed 250 men and produced 2,000 tons of coal each day. During the next several years there were several complaints made regarding the safety of the mine. On March 25, 1947, the mine exploded, killing 111 miners. (Stillman, 2010)
In addition to long working hours, miners paid for the supplies including open head flame lights and detonators. The miners were more or less like craftsmen using their tools and self-acquired skills to produce the maximum output. Consequently, the explosives led to numerous accidents leaving the miners injured badly and dead in many instances. Numerous workers (about 60 each year) were killed as a result of these explosions. The families of the deceased were rarely compensated. Occupational hazards, deterioration in health overtime, inadequate pay in the form of “strips” resulted in conflicts between the labor and the management.
In James Hardie case, since the managers solely pursued profit maximization, it neglected employee’s safe and health, which result in 137 young worker died due to asbestos-related diseases.
Fortunately, companies can afford to pay workers higher wages. If this were not true they would not have been able to become so successful with production in the United States. It is a shame that any company would see themselves as being morally or ethically correct allowing it’s employees to work in a hazardous environment. Companies should want their employees to enjoy the place they work in. This would increase satisfaction in the work place, which would in turn increase production and decrease employee turnover.
Finally this tragedy brought widespread attention to the dangerous sweatshop conditions of factories and led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of workers. The owners Blanck and Harris were to blame, since they neglected their workers safety and concerns in order to be the fastest and the best factory around. Due to their negligence the youngest factory worker at the age of 14 lost her life in the fire. Both Harris and Blanck were indicted on seven counts of manslaughter in the first and second degree, but after paying bail and hiring the best lawyer around they were acquitted of all charges. They paid no time for their crimes and walked away with insurance policies leaving the dead behind and the rest of the workers and their families with
The families that live near the mine also face being diagnosed with dangerous side effects. Since the ground becomes polluted with the chemicals, most homes in the surrounding area don’t have running water because the aquifers are polluted by said chemicals that originate from the mine. And the air becomes toxic also, toxic levels of arsenic, fluorine, mercury, and selenium is emitted by coal fires, entering the air and the food chain of those living nearby. These pollutants affect the water also, making it dangerous to any living life form. It causes deformities and creates birth defects if ingested into the body (Breitenender 2). And to an extent, causes death if the water is drunk regularly. It can go unnoticed also if people don’t check their water. And if a person is unfortunate enough to live near these areas, then he likely has no running water due to the pollution of his local aquifer. People are deprived of a vital source to live and they travel far to get water. And these areas are arid which means water is a necessary
Many companies have ethical decisions that need to be and sometimes those decisions can affect many individuals or just a few. Making ethical decisions may be placed solely on one person’s shoulders or it may be a decision that multiple individuals must be involved in. There are several ethical issues in the Richardson Drilling case that should be considered. For instance, bribery, purchasing substandard parts with lack of disclosure that causes injuries, and revealing sensitive information. One potential ethical concern that could arise has to do with ongoing health insurance and the employer’s responsibility.
Sadly, many men have lost their jobs and become miners. Mining is a job with a steady income; however, it brings home lung diseases and medical bills. Mining used to be this great thing everybody wanted as a job down in Appalachia. Mining effects are much greater than any other job. “Estimates suggest such accidents kill about 12,000 people a year” (“The Dangers of Mining”). In Inez, Kentucky, with a population of only 750, 6% is jobless. More jobs in the mines are becoming more of a hassle, due to the government worrying about working conditions. Siliceous, Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis (CWP), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are all side effects of coal mining and big concerns to higher officials. ("Mining Impacts"). The median household in Appalachia central is 51% lower than national average, and it is lowering by the months. The environment surrounding these counties is either polluted with smoke from the mines or has litter everywhere. Polluted areas causes species to not come back, or to even die off. In a food chain, if one thing disappears, it messes with the whole system. Working in factories and not needing a college education works out great for half the
The owners of the mining companies should help the poor kids because going down into an industrail of obtaining coal or other minerals from a mine. The children will grow up with lots of pain, containing back pains, breathing, heart issues for being down there or working through tough conditions. The owners need to help the kids more than the adults because the kids haven’t experienced life yet.
When new miners arrive in the town of Matewan, they are automatically in debt to the company store for the equipment need to begin working. Throughout the life of the coal miners they are at the mercy of the company's scams and whims. Coal mining is a dangerous operation; not only by chance of mishap, but the coal miners are in great risk of ill health due to the inhalation of coal dust, and the physical strain of working such a laborious trade. The coal company is insensible to the health concerns of the miners; individuals are irrelevant to the industrial company, and they are secure on the knowledge that a fresh supply of young, healthy, able-bodied workers will fall into their grasp.
Now like all situations in life ethics were involved in the thought process and execution of the operation. However, there are two different types of ethic’s Teleological (virtue ethics) and Deontology(duty-bound) both of which are involved in this setting. To begin with, teleological ethics is defined as doing the most good for the greatest number of people. Therefore, further analysis of the circumstance will uncover the teleological and deontological decisions made. Thus, looking deeper reveals several right off the bat first off, the agency running the conference had a need for stronger internet and provided jobs to a
Ethical theory will be outlined in relation to the example case with discussion on how the case poses an ethical dilemma in the workplace. Additionally ethical theory will be considered in light of the case with