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Case Analysis:
Living & Dying with Asbestos
 Presented by

1 2 3 4
Ahnaf Abid Shoumick Sheikh Abrar Nahid Farzana
MD. Rownak Khan
ID: 15222110030 Hossain ID: 1610449630
ID: 1521072030
ID: 1610098030

5 6 7 8

Iftekhar Ahmed Tushar Mst Serazum Monira Mirza Imtiazul Haque Sharif Arafat
ID: 1620613030 ID: 1721405030 Eshan ID: 1731409030
ID:1721861630
 Asbestos
 It is a fibrous metal that has many industrial usages.

 It is used for: fireproofing, electrical insulation,

building materials, brake linings and chemical filters

 If exposed long enough to asbestos particles usually for

more than ten years, it brings severe health hazards

 Lung inflammation disease like asbestosis and a type of

lung cancer called mesothelioma are the most common
diseases that people get affected with.

 The dangers of Asbestos have been proved 50 years

ago.
 Ethical Issues
Issue 1: Editor of a journal asked permission to big
industry players to publish a report that focused
on the negative sides of Asbestos

Issue 2: Sumner Simpson, owner of an Asbestos

company knew all the negative sides yet always
kept it secret from people

Issue 3: Bandivar Brown, secretary of another big

Asbestos company tried to portray asbestosis as a
less serious disease in order to avoid financial
compensations
 Ethical Issues (cont)
Issue 4: Asbestos manufactures were sponsoring
experiments on Asbestos

Issue 5: Companies hid from employees that they

were severely affected

Issue 6: Companies refused to fund cancer

research studies and caution labels were not
printed on the product itself
 Ethical Issue No. 1
 Editor of a journal asked permission to big industry players to
publish a report that focused on the negative sides of Asbestos

 Unethical in the view of Kant: Moral actions should be judged based

on motive and intensions

 Journalist’s point of view: Asbestos manufactures are quite

influential and hence making them angry could have its own side
effects too.

 Outsiders’ point of view: Not matter what, journalists should be

honest yet brave to publish their news regardless of the content
matter.

 Alternative action by the journalist: The editor could have shared the
report with other newspapers so that he is not only to be blamed.
 Ethical Issue No. 2
 Sumner Simpson, owner of an Asbestos company, knew all the negative
sides yet always kept it secret from people
 
 Unethical in the view of Hobbes: Hobbes eight natural law states that
“We should not do to others what we do not want them to do to us”.

 Sumner Simpson’s point of view: It would hurt his business.

 Outsiders’ point of view: There are lots of other ways to earn profit. One
who can sacrifice lives of innocent human beings for money cannot be
called ethical.

 Alternative action by Sumner Simpson: Companies should start

diversifying business and start manufacturing alternatives to Asbestos.
 Ethical Issue No. 3
 Bandivar Brown, secretary of another big Asbestos company tried to
portray asbestosis as a less serious disease in order to avoid financial
compensations

 Unethical in the view of Hobbes & Business Implication of Aristotle’s

Virtue theory: Hobbes’ fourth natural law which states that “We should
not demand of others things we are unwilling to do ourselves” and
Aristotle’s virtue of friendship.

 Bandivar Brown’s point of view: It would not only save companies lot of
money that might have easily gone away as compensation but also
made the product Asbestos perceive to be safer.

 Outsiders’ point of view: Companies manufacturing Asbestos can do

anything for the sake of their profit.

 Alternative action by Bandivar Brown: Company could decrease its

 Ethical Issue No. 4
 Asbestos manufacturers were sponsoring experiments on Asbestos

 Unethical in the view of Hobbes: Hobbes fifth natural law states that
“Judges should be impartial”.

 Company’s point of view: Chances of losing business was less.

 Outsiders’ point of view: These researches create conflict of interest

and hence can never be considered as reliable.

 Alternative action by management: Companies could do positive

branding of Asbestos instead of manipulating experiments.
 Ethical Issue No. 5
 Companies hid from employees that they were severely affected

 Unethical in the view of Hobbes & Kant’s rights & duties theory:
Hobbes’ eight natural law states that “We should not do to others what
we do not want them to do to us” and Kant’s theory of employers’
duties on employees.

 Company’s point of view: It might create labor unrest.

 Outsiders’ point of view: When these workers will get disabled at some
point, their families will get badly affected too.

 Alternative action by management: As most people get affected after

constantly being with Asbestos for ten years, so companies could
change employees after every five years.
 Ethical Issue No. 6
 Companies refused to fund cancer research studies and caution labels
were not printed on the product itself

 Unethical in the view of Hobbes & Kant’s rights and duties theory:
Hobbes theory states that “Good ethics is good business” and Kant’s
theory of relationship with stakeholders.

 Company’s point of view: Results would be negative and hence will

affect profitability.

 Outsiders’ point of view: It’s the right of consumer that they know
which products they have to be cautious about.

 Alternative action by management: Companies could put the caution

label and at the same time do positive branding about Asbestos.
 Critical Decision Points
 Whether they should have let people know about the
negative effects of Asbestos or not?

 Whether they should have looked for other alternatives to

manufacture or not?

 Whether they should have asked for help to the government

or not? 

 Whether they should have gone for out of court settlement

with employees or not?
General Approaches developed from
the Case
 Ethical Journalist Recognition: Journalists who would promote safer
products and discourage products that are hazardous to health should
be awarded publicly. This would encourage other to protest and publish
similar news too.

 Government’s role: The state policy makers should tax Asbestos

manufacturers highly in order to discourage both production and
consumption

 Provide support to companies willing to manufacture substitutes of

Asbestos: Government may provide subsidy, tax holidays or even
interest free loans to manufactures willing to stop production of
Asbestos and shift to produce substitutes of Asbestos.

 Product Safety Audit: Frequent audit by product quality maintain

agencies should be carried out.
THANK Y U

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