Assignment Title
Avco Environmental Case
The situation that Chantale is involved in is rather troublesome for her as she faces ethical choice which may have rough effects on her life, however, other parties will also be affected by it. This case involves the following stakeholders – Chantale, the company Avco Environmental Service and the Environment Protection Agency. The parties who will be affected in this scenario are the local community and the hospital. Chantale is deciding what to do concerning the information that she recovered as well as the instructions received from her superiors, Avco Environmental Services are dumping toxic waste from the hospital and break the regulations set up by the Environment Protection Agency, which may be revealed by Chantale. The Environment Protection Agency based on Chantale’s actions will or will not impose special inspections and sanctions upon Avco Environmental Services (AES). Local community is affected by the unlawful actions of the AES via the contamination of the environment. The hospital is disposing of its wastes with the help of AES, so if the violations are revealed then it first of all will require the hospital to change the service provider for the waste disposal which will potentially increase the cost of service. Also, it might influence the ethical image of the hospital or its directorate due to cooperation with law violators.
There are two major issues present in this case. The first one concerns the actions and practice of AES in toxic waste dumping. It consists in whether it is moral to violate the regulations and dispose wastes to inappropriate places if the regulations are overcautious, and the amount of waste is insignificant. This is a right-and-wrong type of issue since it lies in the ethical plane. From the duty ethics point of view, this is not permissible, however, in this case, as practical aspect is what matters, it would be better to use the consequential criteria. They consist in the outcomes of the action and, thus, the morality of this action is decided by the actual harm done to the environment (whether it is to some degree significant). The second issue is whether Chantale should report to officials about the practices of AES. This is the right-and-right type because if the actions of AES are deemed immoral, then this is just a matter of bravery and the jeopardy for Chantale’s job.
The recommendations, in this case, follow from the nature of the ethical issues present. Chantale should gather more information about the possible consequences of such waste dumping on the environment. She should consult more thoroughly with either the environmental professionals or the activists and estimate the real harm done to the environment. If the consequences of the AES actions are insignificant, then there's nothing she should do it because these actions would be moral. However, if they turn out to be significant, she should make up the way to report this to Environment Protection Agency. If she is scared of the consequences, this might impose on her job she might search for the ways how to do it anonymously or through some kind of coincidental inspection. Also, if she fails to report about AES to the officials because of fear of being fired then she will act immorally, and part of the guilt for the AES's actions will lie on her.
