Ethical Dilemmas in Business
There are many areas where ethical dilemmas arise. Here are five categories of common
ethical dilemmas in business:
1. Human resource issues
2. Employee safety issues
3. Conflicts of interest
4. Customer confidence
5. Use of corporate resources
We shall discuss ethical dilemmas related to employee safety issues here.
Employee Safety Issues
Every employee is entitled to a safe and healthy work environment. We shall discuss in
some details the works of The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
OSHA
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created to ensure the
safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing
training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual
improvement in workplace safety and health.
It is unethical and illegal to force an employee to perform an unsafe task or to work in
unhealthy environments. To enforce staff protective standards as well as to reach out to
employers and employees through technical assistance and consultation programs, OSHA
and its state partners have approximately 2100 inspectors, plus complaint discrimination
investigators, engineers, physicians, educators, standards writers, and other technical and
support personnel spread over more than 200 offices throughout the country.
With some exceptions such as miners, transportation workers, many public employees, and
the self-employed, nearly every working man and woman in the nation comes under
OSHA's jurisdiction. Even occupational safety and health professionals, the academic
community, lawyers, journalists, and personnel of other government entities are served by
OSHA.
OSHA enforce the safety and health standards by mechanisms such as Site Specific
Targeting (SST), Local Emphasis Programs (LEPs), National Emphasis Programs (NEPs), and
the Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP).
The OSHA's Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP) focuses on employers who, despite
OSHA's enforcement and outreach efforts, repeatedly ignore their OSH Act obligations, and
place their employees at risk. EEP targets cases with extremely serious violations related
to a fatality or multiple willful or repeated violations. The objective of EEP is to assure
sustained compliance at these workplaces. If an inspection is classified as an EEP, then it
may receive, among other things, follow-up inspections, inspections of other workplaces of
that employer, and more stringent settlement provisions.
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