Occupational Health
I
Don Hayward is employed as a chemical engineer at ABC
Manufacturing. Although he does not work with hot metals
himself, he supervises workers who are exposed to hot metals
eight hours a day, five days a week. Don becomes concerned when
several workers develop respiratory problems and complain about
"those bad smelling fumes from the hot metals". When Don asks
his superior, Cal Brundage, about air quality in the workplace,
the reply is that the workplace is in full compliance with OSHA
guidelines. However, Don also learns that OSHA guidelines do
not apply to chemicals that have not been tested. A relatively
small percentage of chemicals in the workplace have actually
been tested. This is also the case with the vast majority of
chemicals workers are exposed to at ABC.
Should Don do anything further, or should he simply drop the
matter?
II
Don goes to ABC's science library, talks to the reference
librarian about his concerns, and does a literature search to
see if he can find anything that might be helpful in
determining why the workers have developed respiratory
problems. He finds the title of an article that looks promising
and asks the reference librarian to send for a copy. The
librarian tells Don that the formal request must have the
signed approval of Cal Brundage.
Don fills out the request form and sends it to Cal's office
for approval. One month later the article has still not
arrived. Don asks Cal about the request. Cal replies that he
doesn't recall ever seeing it. He tells Don that it must have
gotten "lost in the shuffle." Don fills out another form and
this time personally hands it to Cal. Cal says he will send it
to the reference librarian right away.
Another month passes by and the article has not arrived. Don
mentions his frustration to the reference librarian. He replies
that he never received a request from Cal.
What should Don do now?
Cite this page:
"Occupational Health"
Online Ethics Center for Engineering
3/30/2006 5:11:21 PM
National Academy of Engineering
Accessed: Thursday, November 20, 2008
<www.onlineethics.org/CMS/edu/resources/csaindex/Health.aspx>