DeGeorge's Conditions

"I would suggest as a rule of thumb that engineers and other workers in large corporations are morally permitted to go public with information about the safety of a product if the following conditions are met:

      1. if the harm that will be done by the product is serious and considerable;
2. if they make their concerns known to their superiors; and
3. if getting no satisfaction from their immediate superiors, they exhaust the channels available within the corporation, including going to the board of directors."

"For an engineer to have a moral obligation to bring his case for safety to the public, I think two other conditions have to be fulfilled, in addition to the three mentioned above."

4. "He must have documented evidence that would convince a reasonable, impartial observer that his view of the situation is correct and the company policy is wrong."
5. "There must be strong evidence that making the information public will in fact prevent the threatened serious harm."


Richard Lee, rlee@uark.edu, last modified: 22 June 2006