Apple Inc. Health and Safety Measures Research Paper

Apple Inc. Health and Safety Measures - Research Paper Example The company is not free of controversies as it has been criticized for its business practices, labor, practices and its own environmental practices, some of them revealing horrific experiences. Particularly, where touch screens are produced, campaigners reveal horrific injuries that say they suffered due to being exposed to deplorable working conditions in factories which are said to have led to some of the staff committing suicide in the last two years. Protests have been seen in areas such as outside a flagship store in Hong Kong as pictures have allegedly shown injuries suffered under terrible conditions as well in Hezhou, China. Recent complaints and campaign by SATCOM add on the many complaints that have been aired in relation to the ill-treatment of employees in the apple Smartphone producing companies in china. One of the assertions of SATCOM is that the employees are forced to work for long hours; 11 hours a day, seven days a week and with just a 24hour break at the end of th e month. The SATCOM activists assert that the factories making Apple iPads and iPhones in China resulted to asking employees to sign pledges not to commit suicide, (Keize, 2013). This was attributed to 14 workers committing suicide 16months after employment on the basis of poor working conditions and inhumane treatment in the factories.... ent in the factories (Daily Mail Reporter, 2013) In addition, interviews with 170 workers and supervisors in several Foxconn factories in Shenzen and Zhengshou show that punishments are the primary management tools in the factories as SACOM (Students and Scholars against Corporate Misbehavior) says the workers had often been told to clean toilets, sweep lawns and confessions pinned on the notice boards or red out to colleagues, The Foxconn campus dormitories retain their pathetic living conditions with 20-39 workers sharing three bedroom flats; sleeping eight in a room in bunk beds. The workers are also not allowed to use electric items such as kettles or laptops and as well not allowed to sit when working as standing is ascertained as a means to keep them nimble enough to do their work effectively and for long, as reported by The Guardian, (2012). Other complaints in the media concerning the employee and Apple products users’ welfare include a recent story in the newspapers c oncerning an attempt by Apple to replace chargers in UK after iPhone injuries were reported on the use of the chargers. This followed after massive reports of people serious injured from faulty phone chargers; the chargers were said to have exploded on the users’ face as they connected them for charging. For example, the report from china asserts that a woman suffered eye injuries after her iPhone exploded on her face while talking on the phone. This is an indication that Apple has been providing faulty products to consumers and are thus in a hurry to fix the problem by replacing the faulty chargers (Apple Inc. 2013). Another related issue is the resend lawsuit by a woman on Apple on the assertion that her iPhone exploded on her face. This occurred while lying on her bed with the iPhone beside

Tort and Regulatory Risk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tort and Regulatory Risk - Essay Example That is, regardless of whether or not they are actually culpable of the violation in question, and regardless in this case whether the plaintiff even has a case. No organization wants to fight to maintain a reputation in the public arena, and as is commonly understood, the resolution of a lawsuit such as the one leveled by Kelly Bates can often take at least a decade to resolve. Torts and Risks are primarily associated with the non-compliance with the 'Clean Water Act' (1972). In Alumina's case, they have had a pretty solid practice of compliance following a problem in the past that they both corrected, and implemented policies and procedures to prevent such an incident re-occurring. Complying with the Clean Water Act can most adequately be understood in a basic legal positivistic framework, that is, one is either complying with the standards established by the Act or they are not. Prevention, Detection & Correction: A preventative approach is one that implements a Quality Assurance procedure of testing with a regularity that can anticipate any corrective measures that need to take place. One of the core strategies that the company in question can take, is to establish a new department that focus' primarily on environmental compliance. A quality assurance team can establish a set of protocols for testing and addressing any problems before they go so far as to negatively impact either the environment or the health of the community. Likewise, prevention is a matter of establishing a set of procedures representing the 'best practices' for that particular emission – are there technologies that can minimize or mitigate the emissions that are at levels that are either harmful or beyond the allowed limit. EPA: The EPA was established by Richard Nixon in 1970 [McMahon, 19] . Currently, it has an operating budget of over $ 10.4 Billion and the current director is Lisa Jackson [http://www.epa.gov ] . This agency of the government is the main or central overseeing body of all environmental regulations in the US.. The division within the agency that is particularly focused on compliance of environmental law and pollution standards is the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. It both establishes the regulations and in turn, enforces the compliance along with establishing the protocols and procedures for both – that is both the regulation and enforcement. It is also an agency which provides a significant body of research both on the environment, but also on the legal regulations and public policy pertaining to the environment. Torts & Risks: The main issue regarding tort and risk, is basic non-compliance. Any non-compliance opens up the corporation to litigation or lawsuits because of the basic problem of knowing endangerment. This is a legal issue that falls within the purview of conspiracy charges. Thus, any problems connecting the non-compliance with the regulations overseen and regulated by the EPA are facts that can be used against the organization. In turn, the problems with negligence in legal terms can be quite wide in scope, and of course, any situation of non-compliance lends itself to a lawsuit based on negligence and recklessness in regard to public safety. Prevention, Detection & Correction: As was noted above in relation to the Clean Water Act (1972), an environmental quality assurance