...A witness testified on October 29, 2015 that his former boss chose to pay fines for safety violations rather than pay to fix the actual safety issues. Christopher Blanchard is testifying against former CEO Don Blankenship under immunity. Mr. Blankenship was the CEO of the Upper Big Branch coal mine in Charleston, West Virginia and Blanchard was the company’s president. Because Blankenship lied to federal investigators about the mine safety and conspired to break mine safety laws, he currently faces up to 30 years in prison. Blanchard claims that miners were notified when the inspectors were on the property so that the workers could fix the problems before the investigators could discover them. Blanchard’s reasoning was that they “considered...
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...Virginia. The name of this coal mine was the Upper Big Branch Mine and it was run by Massey Energy Company. 61 miners were underground at the time of the explosion and 29 of them were killed, making this disaster one of the worst mining tragedies in US history . The MSHA, or the Mine Safety and Health Administration, released a final report concluding that this explosion was caused by a mixture of coal dust and methane, but that was just the actual physical cause. There were several other factors that led to this explosion, and many things could have been done to prevent this tragedy. Luckily for the miners, the explosion at Upper Big Branch was the only big disaster, but Massey Energy and the CEO, Don Blankenship, could easily be held accountable for the explosion. One reason was because of the moral standard that Massey Energy Company failed to follow. They failed on their duty owed to the miners, by deliberately treating them in a way in which they didn’t freely and rationally consent to, and were in turn treated as a means to an end, in order to maximize profits at all costs. Also, Massey Company’s unfair treatment towards its miners created a dangerous environment, beyond the regular risks that are expected at a mine. This was to keep profits the main priority even over employee safety, thus using the employees as a means to an end, and therefore Massey Company acted immorally. In 2010, Massey Energy Corporation was one of the leading coal producers in the United States. In...
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...Since the dawn of time human beings have conducted business of some type or other. In Biblical times people had to work and pay taxes to the king or were beaten or killed. In the early history of our country we traded and bartered with the Indians. This system meant trading something you had, like fur pelts to keep you warm on cold winter nights in exchange for whiskey or guns. However, over time businesses expanded to mean the single proprietorship of a little outside café to the CEO of a multi-million dollar business and included for-profit and non-profit organizations. The role of business today is to provide the consumer with something they need or desire. They are the foundation on which this country thrives. Without businesses that pay taxes we would not have federal and state dollars to pave roads or feed the hungry. Capitalism or free enterprise is what allows owners to open a business of their own imagination and try to be successful. However, being successful comes with not only obligations towards the consumer that buys their product but also to society. The ethics and social responsibility of a company can make or break the company. Issues that may arise are how they treat their employees, how they treat their customers, do they outsource their jobs and how their business impacts the environment. There are two types of businesses, for-profit and non-profit. Both organizations are similar in that they can be set up and structured like a business and both can...
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...(UBB) coal mine owned by the Massey Energy Corporation all perished in the largest mining disaster in over four decades. The dilemma that I will analyze in my paper is whether Massey Energy acted in an ethical manner with regards to the events at the UBB mine. The dilemma will be analyzed using two different ethical principles, the principle of lawfulness and the principle of harm. Along with the ethical principles, Massey will be subject to two different methods of ethical reasoning. These two methods are the human rights and utilitarian methods. After analyzing their actions in accordance to these principles and methods, I concluded by all accounts that Massey did not act in an ethical way. Ethical principles are society’s guide to moral behavior. They are basic behavioral rules that are considered essential for the preservation and continuation of organized life. One principle for ethical and moral behavior is the principle of lawfulness. This principle states that individuals are to not violate the law in order to act in an ethical fashion. Massey Energy Corporation was known for not adhering to governmental mandates that ensured the safety of the environment. Two years prior to the disaster at UBB, Massey violated policies in the Clean Water Act, and was forced to pay $20 million. The corporation received hundreds of citations in regards to site violations at the UBB site alone. The second ethical principle I will use to judge the actions of Massey is the principle of harm...
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