Scenario: Good Intentions

Group Size: 4-15

You are in charge of an aircraft maintenance crew deployed on a mission. Your unit is due to rotate out in one week and has been working long hours in an extremely hot environment.

To raise morale and counter the effects of the heat, you allow your crew to consume more alcohol than is permitted. One day, an accident injures a member of your crew. This could very well have resulted in a fatality. First aid is rendered, and the individual is allowed to spend the rest of the day recuperating. Upon investigating the matter, you discover the injured technician had been drinking before coming on duty and had not followed proper safety protocols. You also determine that the injury could have been prevented.

You and the injured individual have worked together for many years and have developed a strong professional and personal relationship. If you report the accident, an official investigation would be conducted, notwithstanding that the injury was minor, and the individual was adequately cared for.

Categories

• Principles: Obey and Support Lawful Authority, Serve Canada before Self
• Values: Loyalty, Integrity, Courage
• Cultural themes: Service, Leadership
• Misconduct types: Not Specific
• GBA Plus themes: Not Specific
• Audience: Canadian Armed Forces

Facilitator’s Guide

Learning Objectives

• Discuss the ethical obligations of “Obey and support Lawful Authority” and “Serve Canada before Self” in an operational setting. 
• Discuss the ethical values of integrity and loyalty as well as duty, a professional expectation in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) ethos, in an operational setting. 

Facilitation Questions

1. What would you do in this situation? What are the considerations? 
   • Allow open discussion from the group. 
   • Ethical concerns: You know that a member has been injured as a result of your decision to allow more alcohol than permitted. You know that you should report the accident, but you fear the consequences. 
   • Personal factors: By reporting the accident, you will have to accept responsibility for breaching the policy on alcohol consumption. What makes the decision more difficult to act upon is the personal relationship with the injured person. It is likely that both of your careers could potentially be disrupted. 
   • Environmental factors: The crew is to rotate out in one week and people want to go home. You might be pressured to say nothing. Although you treated the injured, you are not excused from your professional responsibility to create a safe working environment, especially when you know that you are exposing your crew to unnecessary risk. Moreover, as a supervisor, you are required to report all accidents that occur within your Area of Responsibility (AOR). 
2. What is the ethical dilemma in this situation?   
   • This is a competing values dilemma, where there are more than one decision, option, or course of action are consistent with different core ethical values and obligations.
   • This situation involves your responsibility as a supervisor to report any accident – major or not – and to assume the consequences for allowing more alcohol than permitted. You know that your decision puts your crew at risk. Telling the truth will challenge not only your loyalty towards your friend, but the entire crew because of the administrative or disciplinary consequences that may result. 
3. What are some potential courses of action that could be taken in this scenario? 
   • Option 1: Report the incident. You assume your responsibility and would have to accept disciplinary/administrative measures. This option might jeopardize your personal relationship with your friend.
   • Option 2: Cover-up the incident by not reporting it and ensure that the crew is consistent with the description of the event. You are lying to your superiors and asking members to cover up an incident that should be reported. In doing so, not only do you influence your crew to act unethically, but also the seriousness of this offence will bear grave consequences for all. Furthermore, this option will most likely create tension amongst the crew, as not everyone will agree to follow your directions.