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Responsibility Shifts with Bridges

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Responsibility Shifts with Bridges
Candy Olson
LS312-02: Ethics and the Legal Environment
Kaplan University

Responsibility Shifts with Bridges The words “corporate social responsibility” can get a little hairy and foggy when accidents occur. According to eGuide to Ethics and the Legal Environment chapter 2 (2010), “CSR is a business practice that demands that business organizations look to the effect their decisions have on multiple stakeholders” (eGuide 2010 pg. 3). I would have to say after reading The Wreck of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited, the question of “Who was at fault” remains a difficult quest to conquer. However, I will do my best to break this case study down into elements that will eventually present an idea as to who truly was at fault for the derailment, in my opinion. I will present to you all the stakeholders involved in this derailment, as well as their interests in cleaning up the mess this “normal accident” left in its wake. Next, I will explain the four areas of the corporation's social corporate responsibilities including the economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic areas. Based on these four areas of corporate social responsibility, I will reveal my final synopsis of who was responsible for this derailment and provide my rationales and recommendations to each of the businesses at fault. To begin, I will present a brief history of the derailment of Sunset Limited and the “normal accident” that took place.
A brief history of the “normal accident” The case study for this assignment involved several factors to help create the accident. Amtrak’s transcontinental passenger train, Sunset Limited, was delayed in New Orleans and behind schedule thirty minutes before it left Alabama. At the same time this train was cruising on its tracks a good seventy-two mph, a towboat that was owned by WGN (Warrior and Gulf Navigation

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