Professional Support for Safety‐Conscious Whistleblowers

Abstract

Engineers who blow whistles are sometimes regarded as public advocates when they report questionable designs or processes that may violate sound engineering principles, since the engineer's paramount responsibility is to protect the public health and safety. If these situations are corrected, future “accidents” can be prevented and billions saved in legal fees and judgments. Cases in which management fired the whistleblower and/or did not heed such warnings are cited. Support for safety‐conscious whistleblowers grows as technology becomes more complex, and as risk analysis develops. Support involves voluntary development of corporate and/or engineering society ombudsmen; or mandatory, legal constraints against employers where public officials investigate the cases. Employees are obligated ethically or legally to report potentially unsafe situations and are supposedly protected against retaliation. The paper recommends expansion of the ombudsman's functions in large industries, and in engineering societies to support their members; the creation of courts of professional opinion to render binding decisions on technical matters; and legislative approval for censuring legislators if their vote overrides the recommendations of courts of professional opinion and “accidents” happen later.