preview

Trench Box Case Study

Decent Essays

The magnitude to which this scenario is depicting is pushing the limits, or surpassing them according to (De Cremer, 2013) anything is acceptable if it legally allowed. This type of attitude and determination of whether an activity should be done in the workplace or not has become a norm in today’s businesses, this type of attitude or determination will effectively cloud personal judgements of those in higher level positions. It all boils down to, whether a law prohibits it and if it does not, then it is acceptable.

Allowing the sewage repair crew to enter into a trench that is seven feet deep without a trench box is a violation of OSHA standards, but seeing how OSHA does not have jurisdiction over the municipality’s safety rules, this is …show more content…

The main grey area in this case is while repairing the sewage is a good thing, which will ease the pain and frustration of the residents of the municipality; it has not been done according to the rules and guidance given to the city workers. . The other grey area is that the trench is only seven feet deep, which is two feet more than the requirement by the council rules. The predicament of the crew is to wait for the trench box for six hours and not finishing the repair on that day or take that acceptable risk of safety that would have the crew finishing the job in thirty minutes. The sewer line has been repaired, at the risk and safety of the repair crew
Right Thing
The right thing to do in this case is to wait for the trench box to arrive, even though it will delay the fixing of the sewage line, it will mitigate the risks associated with fixing it without the trench box. A continuation of pushing and exceeding the limits leads to ultimate collapse of ethics. Thus, while going into the trench without the box would be the easiest thing to do, it will create a culture of obliviousness of the control systems.
Value of an Ethics Program and Role of Leaders and

Get Access