...The case of Bates v. Alumina, Inc. summarized The case is divided into three parts, to which the paper will later refer when discussing the Team Buddy recommendations to the CEO of Alumina, Inc. 1. In May, 2004, the Erehwon Reporter published a scathing article against Alumina, Inc., in which Kelly Bates charged that Alumina, Inc. had discharged polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the waters of Lake Dira in violation of EPA standards, and therefore was responsible for her child contracting leukemia. Alumina, Inc. responded by ordering an internal audit, which concluded that it was not producing PAHs above the EPA standard levels. 2. Bates and the Erehwon Reporter then approached the EPA to obtain the environmental audit report that documented the Alumina, Inc. violation of the Clean Water Act five years ago. The EPA notified Alumina Inc. that disclosure of information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was being considered. Alumina, Inc. disclosed the environmental audit information to The Erehwon Reporter without releasing any confidential information. 3. Bates then threatened to file a million-dollar personal injury lawsuit against Alumina, Inc. to recover compensatory and punitive damages. Bates alleged that Alumina’s negligent conduct, evident in the “serious violation” of environmental laws five years ago, was the proximate cause of her daughter’s leukemia. Through the mediation of a neutral third party, AAA, a confidential settlement provided...
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...Regulatory Risk Management Analysis: IBM Jane Doe BLAW 531 January 12, 2012 John Smith Regulatory Risk Management Analysis: IBM Global warming is a term that we have become very familiar with over the last decades. Gradually, it is disturbing human living conditions and because societies’ lack of environmental protection responsibility, more damage is forecasted to take place. Rising temperatures are expected to raise the sea level, change climate conditions, alter desserts and forests, water supplies, crop yields, harm many ecosystems of animals and threat human life. Throughout the world, there is naturally caused pollution, but the majority of the world’s pollution is caused by humanity. In the United States, as well as many other industrialized countries, the greatest source of contamination is the industrial community. At the peak of the Industrial Revolution, industries efforts were focused on profitability and how much product they push out of the assembly lines. Environmental protection was not a priority in comparison with maintaining high levels of production. Protecting the environment is a costly and a real matter to any business, but it is the ideal outcome to find that balance where companies protect the environment while still remained profitable. In the United States there is no better example of environmental conscience and profitable as International Business Machines (IBM). IBM leads the United States as the ‘greenest’ company and second...
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...Business 313 Loss Prevention January 26, 2013 Jay Odum Critical Analysis Paper Problem: Your employer is violating environmental laws. You know that if the government learns of the violations, your company will be unable to survive financially criminal and civil action and pollution controls. You will certainly lose your job. What do you do? Should you inform the authorities and risk losing your job or stay quiet? This can be a difficult situation and can put the employee in an awkward position. Your first instinct is to keep quiet, especially if you like your employer and your job. You need your job, everyone needs their jobs. On the other hand, if the violation is something serious and criminal, then yes, you are obligated to do something. What if you are wrong and falsely accuse your employer? If you make a false accusation you could be sued for defamation. Consider all of the options first before bringing the company to its knees and causing everyone to lose their jobs. Do not act hastily or rashly. You want to maintain a good relationship with your employer. Your first obligation is to report the violation. You are ethically responsible to report an environmental violation at your company. You should comply with your company’s established code of ethics. All employees must be a part of the ethical environment through a code of ethics and see it spelled out in policies, procedures, and training (Purpura, 2008). When you or your employer make unethical...
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...Recognizing and Minimizing Tort and Regulatory Risk Hector Sierra University of Phoenix Law 531 Businesses deal with tort liability and management in the day to day operations. Minimizing tort liability is a key factor in operating a successful business. Alumina Inc., has developed a plan to prevent, identify and implement corrective measures for handling tort liabilities. Recognizing and Minimizing Tort and Regulatory Risk Alumina Inc. is a $4bn U.S. based international aluminum company with eight locations worldwide. Alumina Inc. falls under certain government regulatory agencies and laws such as The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and CERCLA. Alumina Inc. was reported to be in violation of environmental discharge five years ago. Even though Alumina Inc. corrected the violation, Alumina Inc. still faces a possible bad reputation because of this incident. Alumina Inc. has had a good record ever since that incident was corrected. A local resident of the community named Kathy Bates has accused the company of repeatedly contaminating the waters of Lake Dira before. Kathy Bates has now filed a complaint against Alumina Inc. in regards to suspicion that her daughter contracted leukemia due to the consumption of contaminated water. This complaint calls for an investigation of the company’s practices with regard to the Clean Water Act of 1972. However, traffic is causing water pollution in Lake Dira as well. Increased...
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...the basis of the internal control framework of Fraudulent Financial Reporting National Committee of Sponsoring Organizations Commission (COSO) belonging to the Treadway Commission in September 2004. ERM is participated by the Board of Directors, management and other employees, which uses in Strategy formulation and identifies possible potential impacts on matters of the enterprise. It also manages risks within the scope of its risk appetite. ERM provides reasonable protection for the enterprise to achieve the objective. Based on the 7 Essential Elements of ERM and the role of Internal Audit by Tony Harb, a perfect enterprise risk manager should be clear what ERM will cover, what enterprise risk management is, why the ERM is becoming more important, how relative people know ERM is alive and well. Meanwhile, internal audit should link between ERM and internal audit (Harb, para.2008)....
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...Benziger Family Winery Murray Silverman San Francisco State University M att Atkinson, ranch manager at Benziger Family Winery (BFW), was overseeing the development of the winery’s environmental management system (EMS). Matt was working with Chris Benziger, partner and national sales manager, to ensure that development of the EMS was consistent with BFW’s operational and strategic direction. It was February 2003 and Matt and Chris had already invested countless hours in the EMS, which was being developed with assistance from the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA). Through its EMS winery pilot project, Cal/EPA hoped to design an EMS template that eventually could be made available to other wineries. Furthermore, Cal/EPA was attempting to develop a template that was consistent with ISO 14001, an internationally recognized standard for environmental management systems. Cal/EPA had selected BFW in June 2000 as one of two pilot wineries because of the winery’s proactive commitment to environmental policies and the significant environmental advances it had already made. Matt believed that considerable progress had been made on the company’s EMS. With Cal/EPA’s assistance, BFW had developed a formal environmental policy, identified and prioritized its environmental impacts, and established objectives and targets. However, there were still many steps to be carried out in establishing a full-fledged EMS. Further development would require time-consuming efforts...
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...leaving open the possibility of eventually pursuing ISO 14001 certification. M att Atkinson, ranch manager at Benziger Family Winery (BFW), was overseeing the development of the winery’s environmental management system (EMS). Matt was working with Chris Benziger, partner and national sales manager, to ensure that development of the EMS was consistent with BFW’s operational and strategic direction. It was February 2003 and Matt and Chris had already invested countless hours in the EMS, which was being developed with assistance from the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA). Through its EMS winery pilot project, Cal/EPA hoped to design an EMS template that eventually could be made available to other wineries. Furthermore, Cal/EPA was attempting to develop a template that was consistent with ISO 14001, an internationally recognized standard for environmental management systems. Cal/EPA had selected BFW in June 2000 as one of two pilot wineries because of the winery’s proactive commitment to environmental policies and the significant environmental advances it had already made. Matt believed that considerable...
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...Audit Charter Authorized by: Date: Internal Audit Facilitator: Date: Audit Planning Identify and prepare internal auditors: | |Responsibilities |Preparation and Training | |Audit Team Leaders* |( Planning. organizing, and directing the audit |( Training in audit methods and practice | | |( Lead the team in reaching audit conclusions |( Audit observation | | |( Prevent and resolve conflicts |( Audit under supervision | | |( Prepare and complete the audit report |( Training and updates in customer, regulatory, | | | |and quality certification requirements | | | |( Training and updates in organization | | | |requirements | | | ...
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...Quality Assurance / Quality Control Plan for Continuous Emission Monitor Systems and Continuous Opacity Monitor Systems (CEMS/COMS) The following is a Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) Plan for Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems or CEMS. This QA/QC Plan meets the minimum requirements of the Indiana State Rule 326 IAC 3-5-4 Standard Operating Procedures and Chapter 20 of the Indiana Quality Assurance Manual. This example QA/QC Plan may be used as a guide for the construction of your CEMS QA/QC Plan. Please keep in mind that this example plan has the basic elements that comprise a good QA/QC Plan but, it may not cover all the areas that are specific to your plant's CEMS. Be sure to incorporate your specific operational knowledge, experience and applicable State and Federal requirements into the QA/QC Plan for your company. If you have any questions please call Jarrod Fisher at (317) 233-2723, fax at (317) 233-6865 or e-mail at jfisher@idem.in.gov. NOTE: BOLD , UNDERLINED, UPPER CASE ITALICS in this Plan's text is intended for areas in which company names, boiler numbers or other text can be inserted. Text which is bold, underlined lower case italics is intended for areas where additional text may be inserted into the Plan. Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (CEMS) Quality Assurance/Quality Control Plan for COMPANY - PLANT UNIT - MONITOR(S) DATE ...
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...Project MANAGE ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE Identifying strategic direction Among the most useful tools for strategic planning is SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). The main objective of this tool is to analyze internal strategic factors, strengths and weaknesses attributed to the organization, and external factors beyond control of the organization such as opportunities and threats. Other tools include: * Balanced Scorecards, which creates a systematic framework for strategic planning; * Scenario planning, which was originally used in the military and recently used by large corporations to analyze future scenarios. PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological) * STEER analysis (Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors) * EPISTEL (Environment, Political, Informatics’, Social, Technological, Economic and Legal). Undertaking strategic analysis reviewing the current marketing performance. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats ), PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological), STEER analysis (Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors), and EPISTEL (Environment, Political, Informatics’, Social, Technological, Economic and Legal). SYSTEM: System Pyramid Successful and sustainable transformation efforts require leaders...
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...Bullies on the Job The video Bullies on the Job poses the question of whether or not psychological abuse is a form of harassment. The manager in a professional environment may utilize several measures to prevent intentional torts. The act of bullying may give way to torts related to mental distress, pain and suffering, and hostile environment First, a manager should lead by example. Setting clear expectations that bullying is not allowed will set the tone for the company. Employees should be trained on where to find information regarding the company’s bullying policy and acknowledge that they have read and understood the policy. In most cases a policy isn’t enough to deter negative behaviors. Asking for feedback and allowing employees to express their point of view is one a great measure to implement. In addition, when employees exhibit positive behaviors they should be recognized in a systematic manner. This will create a culture that fosters an optimistic corporate culture. BP Podcast The BP oil spill that occurred off of the Louisiana Gulf Coast is perhaps the worst oil spill to occur in history. It aroused a nationwide concern for the environmental strains placed on our ecosystem and placed a high profile spotlight on the legal considerations both a corporation and government should uphold to prevent and handle such situations. Risk management is both a preventative and situational measure that all organizations should strictly enforce. BP’s risk management department...
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...(1) What is the point at which a legal agreement is said to have occurred? Intend to contract. (2) What is the difference between an enforceable, unenforceable, express and implied contract? Unenforceable Agreement occurs when the parties intend to form a valid bar-gain but a court declares that some rule of law prevents enforcing it. Voidable Contract Occurs when the law permits one party to terminate the agreement. Void Agreement is one that neither party can enforce, usually because the purpose of the deal is illegal or because one of the parties had no legal authority to make a contract. (3) Describe a situation where a breach of contract has occurred. Most contracts are discharged by full performance or sometimes the parties discharge a contract by agreement. (4) If there is a breach of contract, what remedies are available? Compensatory Damages (Expectation Interest), Consequential Damages (Special Damages), Incidental Damages (Relatively Minor) (5) What conditions would constitute a discharge of a contract? A party is discharged when they no longer have any duties under a contract. (6) Describe the conditions for a discharge of a contractual obligation. Most contracts are discharged by full performance or sometimes the parties discharge a contract by agreement. (7) Describe types of acceptable performance of a contract. Strict and Substantial Performance. 1) Strict: requires one party to perform its duties perfectly. 2) Substantial: generally sufficient...
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...mining, alumina refining, and aluminum smelting (University of Phoenix, 2008). The U.S. market constitutes 70% of the company’s sales. A crisis has arisen from allegations of environmental damages which have led to a person’s illness (University of Phoenix, 2008). This paper will identify key facts, regulations, and legal issues; identify several of Alumina’s values and stakeholders; identify conflicts which constitute ethical dilemmas; summarize legal counsel’s advice on the issues; and evaluate alternative solutions in the context of Alumina’s legal position. Key Facts, Regulations and Legal Issues Five years ago, a routine EPA compliance inspection revealed higher than acceptable levels of a carcinogenic substance, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), to which Alumina promptly responded with a cleanup. The subsequent environmental audit reported the violation as corrected and the company has maintained a good compliance record since then (University of Phoenix, 2008). Alumina has made every effort to be compliant with environmental regulations. Administering environmental laws at the federal level is the Environmental Protection Agency. Since many of the laws provide for both federal and state enforcement, the states also have strong environmental agencies. As is stated in The Legal and Regulatory Environment of Business (2005), “Policies are set at the federal level, and the states devise plans to implement them. States, and even local governments, also enforce...
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...components, manufacturer of packaging materials, bauxite mining, aluminum refining, and aluminum smelting. Five years ago, Alumina was in violation of environmental discharge norms in a routine EPA compliance evaluation. PAH concentration in test samples was above the prescribed limit. A clean up was ordered, with which Alumina promptly complied. A follow up audit reported the violation as corrected. Other than this single isolated incident, Alumina has a good record of compliance before and after. Now, Kelly Bates, a 38-year-old single mother, accused Alumina of repeatedly contaminating the waters of Lake Dira with carcinogenic effluents, and has alleged that consumption of the contaminated water is the proximate cause of her 10-year-old daughter’s leukemia. Bates also alleges that her daughter’s condition may be as old as Alumina’s first instance of environmental law violation. The Key Facts, Regulations, and Legal Issues This section discusses the main themes of the simulation and why they are important aspects in the decision making process. The first key fact in this simulation is that five years ago Alumina Inc. in a routine EPA compliance evaluation was found to be in violation of environmental discharge. The PAH concentration test samples were above the prescribed limit. The EPA ordered a clean up, which Alumina Inc. complied. Except for this one incident, Alumina Inc. has a positive overall environmental regulation compliance record. The second key factor in the...
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...Strategic Audit of Harley-Davidson Current Situation A. Current Performance 2008 ❖ Revenue 2008 $5.59 billion down from $5.73 billion in ❖ Net Income $654.7 million down from $933.8 million i ❖ Earnings per stock share $2.70 down from $3.74 in 20 ❖ Motorcycles sold 303,470 down from 330,619 in 2007 http://investor.harley-davidson.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=360949 B. Strategic Posture * Mission ❖ We ride with our customers and apply this deep connection in every market we serve to create superior value for all of our stakeholders. * Objectives * We fulfill dreams inspired by the many roads of the world by providing extraordinary motorcycles and customer experiences. We fuel the passion for freedom in our customers to express their own individuality. * Strategies ❖ Get Cost structure correct ❖Obtain funding for Harley-Davidson Financial Services ❖Invest in the Harley-Davidson Brand ❖ Policies ❖Customers for life.... Harley-Davidson values the deep emotional connection that is created with our customers through our products, services and experiences. We are fueled by brand loyalty and trust that our customers place in us to deliver premium quality and the promise of a fulfilling lifetime ownership experience. We exemplify this commitment by embracing a culture of personal responsibility and stewardship for quality in everything we do. 2. Corporate Governance A. Bo DIRECTORS | JOB...
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