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Lessons from the Wreck of the Exxon Valdez: The Need for Imagination, Empathy, and Courage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2020

Larue T. Hosmer
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Abstract:

Investigations of large scale industrial accidents generally take one of two alternative approaches to identifying the cause or causes of those destructive events. The first is legal analysis, which focuses on the mechanical failure or human error that immediately preceded the accident. The second is socio-technical reasoning, which centers on the complexities of the interlocking technological and organizational systems that brought about the accident. Both are retrospective, and provide little insight into the means of avoiding industrial accidents in the future. This article looks at six levels of managerial responsibility within a firm, and suggests specific changes at all levels that should logically help in the prevention or mitigation of these high impact/low probability events. The most basic need, however, is for imagination, empathy, and courage at the most senior level of the firm.

Type
Section III
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 8 , Issue S1: The Ruffin Series Special Issue No.1 , 1998 , pp. 109 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © Business Ethics Quarterly 1998

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References

Endnotes

1 Perrow, Charles, Normal Accidents: Living with High Risk Technologies (New York: Basic Books, 1984).Google Scholar

2 Jasanoff, Sheila, Learning from Disaster: Risk Management After Bhopal (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994): p. 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Ibid, p. xi.

4 Environmental Reporter, December 6, 1991, p. 1948.

5 Environmental Reporter, May 1, 1992, p. 10.

6 Environmental Reporter, July 23, 1993, p. 515.

7 Environmental Reporter, June 17th, 1994, p. 302.

8 John Magee and Ranganath Nayak, “Leaders’ Perspective on Business Ethics: An Interim Report”, Arthur D. Little Prism, First Quarter 1994, p. 67.

9 Fortune, May 126, 1986, p. 11.