Ethical issue in industry
Q1. Evaluate the ethical issues concerned with the operation management decisions of the IMC plant.
1. Issue of “sweatshop” Condition in IMC plant
i. Dangerous and Poor Working Condition
The poor layout of facilities inside the plant directly and seriously affected the worker safety. There were several evidences to show that IMC did not provide a safety and proper working environment for its staff and contractors:
- Zinc buffer stocks were stored everywhere even blocking the walkways and emergency exits. Furthermore, the plant was a dangerous place with many overused and overheated machinery which may explore easily. And the management refused to stop operating the plant even getting knowledge about the unsound roof which finally collapsed.
- IMC enforced the contractors worked under a precarious condition without providing relative protection clothing and respirators, working closely to dangerous machinery.
- Chemical poisoning in the plant was a critical concern. The lead poisoning level was much higher than the international acceptable level and it would definitely affect the health of all the workers. IMC did not alarm its staff about the consequence of over inhaling the lead and the protection action. It even restrained the contractors to get relative information and rejected to provide any respirator which was violating the regulation.
With such dangerous workplace, two workers had died during their work and the health and safety issue was obviously serious.
1. Issue of “sweatshop” Condition in IMC plant
i. Dangerous and Poor Working Condition
The poor layout of facilities inside the plant directly and seriously affected the worker safety. There were several evidences to show that IMC did not provide a safety and proper working environment for its staff and contractors:
- Zinc buffer stocks were stored everywhere even blocking the walkways and emergency exits. Furthermore, the plant was a dangerous place with many overused and overheated machinery which may explore easily. And the management refused to stop operating the plant even getting knowledge about the unsound roof which finally collapsed.
- IMC enforced the contractors worked under a precarious condition without providing relative protection clothing and respirators, working closely to dangerous machinery.
- Chemical poisoning in the plant was a critical concern. The lead poisoning level was much higher than the international acceptable level and it would definitely affect the health of all the workers. IMC did not alarm its staff about the consequence of over inhaling the lead and the protection action. It even restrained the contractors to get relative information and rejected to provide any respirator which was violating the regulation.
With such dangerous workplace, two workers had died during their work and the health and safety issue was obviously serious.