Can Company Loyalty and Ethics Coincide?
Naïve, maybe; believing that people are generally good and will do the right thing when confronted, yes. As much as I want to continue to believe, it becomes harder after each litigation case.
Views change and mine has surely changed after serving as an expert on numerous wrongful death cases.
I have witnessed company employees knowingly fabricating details, claiming loss of memory, expounding the company spin, and outright lying; all to preserve their jobs. Securing your job is understandable, but at what cost?
There have been cases where operator’s log books that may have provided details of the incident have suddenly disappeared. Others where pages for the day of the incident were inadvertently torn out of the log book and could not be found. Even other cases, where company employees admitted under oath during deposition that they were paid large severance bonuses to not make unfavorable statements about an incident and the company.
I’m not advocating that all companies pressure or subdue their employees into unethical practices; there are many good companies and employees.
I do ask that if an incident occurs at your company, you ask yourself one simple question. If the fatality or injury had been me, how would I expect my colleagues to react?
Would I expect co-workers to hide facts, destroy evidence, and provide false testimony all in an effort to preserve the company’s spin? Or would I want an unbiased investigation into the causal factors of the incident in efforts to prevent its reoccurrence?
