Whistleblower Paper

Running head: Whistleblowing – You Decide

Whistleblowing – You Decide

HUMN232 / DeVry University

October 7, 2011, 2011

“Wooden” is a large factory in Littlebury. Littlebury is a small town with a population of approximately 1,200 people. Wooden is the largest employer in the town. In Littlebury, everyone knows each other, as they are either related or friends. Wooden specializes in creating wooden objects from shaving and shaping logs. The factory takes in approximately 1,000 logs a day and operates on a 24/7 schedule. The activity generates an enormous amount of wood dust. There is dust at least an inch thick on all of the equipment, flat surfaces and ceiling rafters. There are some areas in which the dust could be as much as three inches thick. Wood dust is a combustible material and, given the right circumstances (ignition source, amount of dust, etc.), can be explosive. Also, inhaling fine wood dust can create respiratory illness. Employees have complained over the years about the dust, but the employer still has not created a method to frequently clean the factory. One day Karen, a co-worker, informed me that while she was operating her machine she noticed three quick sparks in the air near her work station. Karen informed her Section Manager about this incident, but the response was that she shouldn’t worry about it. She is now scared that the factory may explode at any moment. Being with the company for over 10 years and having the same concerns over wood dust I spoke with the various chains of command within Wooden, from the Safety Coordinator to the Owner of the company. Based on their responses to my concerns over the potential hazard to the factory and the employees here, I decided that I would report this issue to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

The reason why I chose to report this is because I believe Wooden is in violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Employers have the responsibility to provide...