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reluctant to spend the money to install engineering controls to reduce the exposure. This area was not specifically included in the OSHA complaint and the inspectors have not raised any questions regarding this matter.
7.2.2 Issue
Robert sees the OSHA inspection as a potential opportunity to finally get the engineering controls installed at the top‐loading facility. However, Robert is presented with a potential conflict of interest and violation of confidentiality if he should disclose his sampling results to the OSHA inspection team to gain leverage in getting management's approval to the install engineering controls.
7.2.3 Analysis
As mentioned in our first case, The ABIH Industrial Hygiene Code of Ethics, The Joint Industrial Hygiene Association Member Ethical Principles, and the fourth canon of the Industrial Hygiene Canons of Ethical Conduct state that an industrial hygienist shall avoid circumstances where a conflict of interest may arise. However, the preamble to the ABIH Code of Ethics states, “First and foremost, ABIH certificants and candidates give priority to health and safety interests related to the protection of people….” Further, certificants and candidates are expected to comply with laws and regulations.17 Robert also understands that he must maintain and respect the confidentiality of sensitive information obtained in the course of professional activities unless the information is reasonably understood to pertain to unlawful activity; a court or governmental agency lawfully directs the release of the information; the client or the employer expressly authorizes the release of specific information; or the failure to release such information would likely result in death or serious physical harm to employees and/or the public.18
Based on this information, Robert reasons that he should show the area of concern to the OSHA team and disclose the sampling results because; (i) he has a primary responsibility to protect the health of the employees, (ii) exposures consistently exceeded the benzene permissible exposure limit thus establishing a potential violation of the regulations, and (iii) the OSHA warrant does cite the OSHA General Duty Clause as a basis to provide “all relevant information.”
7.3 Case 3 – The Global Garment Trade
7.3.1 Background
George works for a US‐based corporation that owns a half‐dozen major clothing brands sourcing from many parts of the world, including South Asia. The company's suppliers include factories in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. All three countries are notorious for unsafe working conditions, including fatal factory fires and collapses of high‐rise buildings converted from commercial to industrial use. His company has a CSR program and relies on third‐party monitors to determine compliance with the company's program. George is concerned about the effectiveness of this approach since recent (2012–2013) industrial disasters – the Ali Enterprise factory fire in Pakistan (289 dead), the Tazreen Fashion factory fire in Bangladesh (112 dead), and the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh (1134 dead) – all occurred in factories that had been repeatedly audited by brands and their third‐party monitors prior to the disasters.
George occasionally conducts his own audits at the company's supplier factories and frequently finds significant health and safety hazards as well as violations of national labor laws. Factory management often acknowledge the uncorrected hazards but contend they lack the resources to address the issues because of the sourcing practices of his company. These policies continuously reduce the per‐unit price paid to the factory for clothing in every new contract, frequently generate last‐minute changes in spite of tight delivery deadlines, and provide only short‐term contracts that do not allow the certainty of future work needed for the factory to invest in physical plant upgrades and development of plant‐level health and safety programs.
7.3.2 Issue
George wants to implement both the letter and spirit of the company's CSR code of conduct and program to protect the health and rights of the supply chain workforce. However, he faces corporate sourcing policies over which he has little influence, an ineffective monitoring system to evaluate compliance, and factory managers and shop‐floor workers with limited experience and training in occupational health and safety.
7.3.3 Analysis
The first canon of joint Code of Ethics for the Professional Practice of Industrial Hygiene states that industrial hygienists shall “practice their profession following recognized scientific principles with the realization that the lives, health and well‐being of people may depend upon their professional judgment and that they are obligated to protect the health and well‐being of people.”19 Even more clearly stated, the Code of Ethics for registered Occupational Hygienists and Occupational Hygiene Technologists in Canada declares that Registered Occupational Hygienists shall “place the health and safety of workers above all other interests in the performance of their professional work.”20
Even though George may not be a “decision‐maker” within his company, he can be an advocate for changes in the business model and sourcing policies to address the underlying issues that have generated both fatal disasters and repeated failing CSR audits. Among the policies he can promote are reasonable prices that allow factory management to pay workers according to the law; reasonable delivery dates and reduced last‐minute change orders; and long‐term partner relationships with suppliers.
To generate accurate audits of factories in Bangladesh, George can advocate for company membership (with 190+ other apparel brands) in the Bangladesh Accord for Fire and Building Safety, as well as promoting factory‐level efforts to address all health and safety issues in the workplaces. George can advocate for an Accord‐like agreement with other brands sourcing from India and Pakistan, which have factory conditions and hazards similar to Bangladesh.
If George has conducted his own audits of facilities that conflict with the findings of the third‐party auditor, George has several options: he can share his findings with his own managers and the management of the inspected factory to seek correction of the hazards he identified on site; he can request more oversight of the third‐party monitor involved in this audit, and more scrutiny of the third‐party monitoring system as a whole; and/or the disqualification of the third‐party monitor involved here from future work with his company.
While supporting these private‐sector initiatives, George can promote the idea of apparel industry support to government agencies who have the ultimate responsibility for establishing and enforcing a “level playing field” for all garment factories in their countries.
As part of a partner relationship with its supplier factories, George can advocate for a capacity‐building approach with managers on health and safety issues. He can also champion genuine participation of workers in the OHS and CSR programs by representative worker members who have the authority, paid release time, information, and training required to play their essential role in factory health and safety programs.
ENDNOTES
1 1 Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat, p. 31a.
2 2 Aquinas, Thomas, Commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics.
3 3 Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (UK). https://www.business-humanrights.org
4 4 Worker‐Driven Social Responsibility Network (US). https://wsr-network.org
5 5 The Fair Food Program (US). http://www.fairfoodprogram.org
6 6 Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (Dhaka, Bangladesh). http://bangladeshaccord.org
7 7 1997 Society