Following the law and making ethical decisions should be the main priority of a company. When one fails to follow the law or makes an unethical decision, others can be put in danger. As seen in Gerald M. Stern’s book, The Buffalo Creek Disaster, Pittston Company failed to make ethical decisions which cost them millions of dollars, but more importantly human’s lives. Pittston was negligent in failing to address the unsafe conditions the Buffalo Creek residents were living around. Also, their corporate social responsibility failed once the crisis began. Lastly, Pittston caused serious emotional distress among the Buffalo Creek residents because of the disaster they caused. Pittston Company’s unethical decisions were the cause of the unfortunate Buffalo Creek Disaster.
The idea of ethics is an individual’s conscious of what is right and wrong, in which they rationalize their decisions and behaviors around. In business and personally, ethics is extremely relevant within the personal and professional realms. On an individual level, ethics play a role in every day decision making and governs the views of an individual. On a professional level, ethics can help an individual make business decisions or decisions that affect others. Ethics is a prevalent concept within business, conjointly related to the study of law. It is essential for young professionals to understand the fundamental principles of business law and ethics. This understanding should be gained early in one’s schooling and career, when occupational responsibilities are few and just beginning. Mastery of these fundamental principles can provide a foundation on which personal and professional success may be built. As a person advances in his or her chosen field, whether it be technology, manufacturing, law, medicine, or management, they are often given additional responsibilities and have more influence on the decisions made within their firms and organizations. Armed with an understanding of law and ethics, they will be in a better position to guide their employees, departments, and companies through potential obstacles and on to economic success and societal benefit.
To go along with ethics, the law is a system that regulates human conduct and business which maintains order in society. It is the law that provides the structure for markets to operate successfully. Ethics differs from law in which it is the moral obligations of what is right and wrong while the law is what is legal or illegal. It is possible for individuals and firms to act legally without acting ethically. While the law defines what is legally acceptable, ethics determines if a behavior aligns with one’s social responsibility. To achieve success, an individual or organization must meet both legal and ethical standards. Failure to meet these standards is inadequate and unlikely to sustain the growth necessary to succeed personally or economically.
First, negligence is a primary factor in the case against Pittston. In the construction of its unsafe dams, Pittston had “shown flagrant disregard for the safety of residents of Buffalo Creek and other persons who live near coal-refuse impoundments” (Stern 64). A dam, which was constructed by Buffalo creek mining company, failed which sent a wall of water down the valley killing 125 people. This dam was comprised of coal refuse from the Buffalo Creek mine and constructed with little regard for engineering standards. Pittston Company, the majority shareholder of the Buffalo Creek mine denied any active participation in the company and its subsequent failures. However, they would eventually be proved negligent by discoveries including the Governor’s Ad Hoc Campaign, which concluded “Pittston’s conduct was in flagrant disregard of the lives and property of the residents of Buffalo Creek” (Stern 87). Still, the plaintiffs would only receive a fraction of what they deserved, if they could not collect damages for their mental distress. Many of the people in the Buffalo Creek case had underwent no physical trauma during the disaster. Therefore, the plaintiffs were obligated to prove their mental distress, in order to enact a true change in the practices of mining companies. One plaintiff, Mrs. Wilburn, described her experiences in a deposition several months after the disaster, stating “I stayed there until I got sick and nauseated and started vomiting and I couldn’t stand to watch, but I watched all of it… and seemed like I just wanted to pass out” (Stern 175-176). Statements like Mrs. Wilburn’s emphasized the horror and shock that many residents underwent during the disaster and how these feelings remained prominent sometime after the incident. By proving the defendant’s negligence, the overwhelming mental pain the plaintiffs underwent, and their direct correlation, Mr. Stern, head attorney of the plaintiff, had earned his clients a just settlement.
Second, the principle of social responsibility has changed and adapted as businesses have become more interconnected with the societies and communities they operate in. In Gerald M. Stern’s book, he describes his experience as an attorney, representing a community, who in 1972, had suffered great physical and emotional losses after a corporation’s clear lack of social responsibility led to the bursting of a refuse dam, releasing 130 million gallons of water into the occupied valley below the dam. As stated above, Stern records this statement from the West Virginia Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry in 1972: “The Pittston Company, through its officials, has shown flagrant disregard for the safety of residents of Buffalo Creek and other person who live near coal-refuse impoundments” (Stern 64). At the center of the dam-bursting catastrophe is a mistake of social responsibility. Throughout the discovery process, Gerald Stern found repeated instances of the company’s executives choosing to maximize profits instead of reinforcing safety measures for employees and their families. In June of 1974, the Pittston Company agreed to a $13.5 million settlement deal, which is equivalent to approximately $59 million today, with the residents of the Buffalo Creek valley as remedy for the physical and emotional damage inflicted two years earlier. Pittston’s early reluctance to spend money eventually cost them dearly in human suffering, reputation, and financial losses.
After reading The Buffalo Creek Disaster, there are many important takeaways that can be applied personally and professionally. If it wasn’t clear enough why it’s so important that each individual needs to comply with the law and make ethical decisions, the Buffalo Creek Disaster is an extremely alarming example. It is so important to make ethical decisions each and every day. Also, making or not making ethical decisions in your career is the difference in keeping or losing your job. Not only do the decisions we make affect ourselves, but they can affect many other people as seen here. Gerald M. Stern’s book shows how much more important it is to follow the corporate social responsibility than the profit the company is bringing in. No matter the result or outcome of making ethical decisions, you never want to put fail ethically because it can and probably will put others in danger.
To summarize, Pittston Company’s negligence and failed corporate social responsibility caused the Buffalo Creek Disaster and the damage that came after. Although they were informed their dams were unsafe, they continued to ignore the problem negligently. Also, the corporate’s lack of social responsibility led to the bursting dam releasing 130 million gallons of water. Lastly, the unethical decisions led to emotional distress among the residents of Buffalo Creek. Failure to comply with the law and make ethical decisions individually or professionally, will negatively affect not only the individual or company, but the people involved or around as seen here.