Corpotare Social Responsibility Case Study

Health Hazards Battles of IBM

OR

Abstract:
Since the late 1990s, IBM had been rattled by legal suits filed by its former employees in California and New York, USA. Most of the plaintiffs sued IBM on the grounds that IBM had knowingly exposed them to harmful chemicals, which had caused severe health problems. IBM defended itself by stating that the health problems of its former employees could have been due to many other reasons as there had been no definite proof that employees in the semiconductor industry were prone to health problems only because of the chemicals used in the industry.

Pedagogical Objectives:

To discuss the occupational health hazards in the chip making of the semiconductor industry and how a verdict in favour of the plaintiffs would affect the entire chip manufacturing industry, which operates on similar working conditions, using the same chemicals with analogous potential dangers.

Keywords : Corporate Social Responsibility Case Study IBM, Semiconductor industry, Computer industry, Chemical effects in chip making, Professional health hazards, IBM and lawsuits, Allegations against IBM, Corporate social responsibility of IBM, Court cases against IBM, Corporate disclosure regulations in the US, Employee health and company obligations, Regulations on professional health hazards, Worker grievances, Workplace safety regulations in the US, Defence of IBM