EPA Management



EPA Management

Introduction

This paper will develop a business regulation plan for a company like Alumina, identifying its legal issues and legal principles. It will explain how such issues can be identified and managed through preventive, detective, and corrective measures.

Background

Alumina Inc. is an aluminum manufacturer specializing in the manufacture of aluminum products, and like other companies that operate in manufacturing industry, Alumina is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Their mission is “to protect human health and the environment. Alumina and all businesses are under legal and regulatory compliances mandated by state and federal government. All companies are forced to observe their practices to ensure compliance or be subjected to legal claims that could damage permanently a company's image or financial position (www.epa.gov).

Issues

The following issues were identified in the simulation:

Negligence - “In general terms, negligence is the failure to use ordinary care” (Larson, 2003) a recklessness attitude, an action done without thinking through the consequences, and in the case of a company like Alumina, when its conduct could have interfered with a person, is considered personal tort, where “tort is a private wrong. When a tort is committed, the party who was injured is entitled to collect compensation for damages from the wrongdoer for the private wrong(Jennings, 2006, p. 367). Once proved that the duty exists, there must be a determination that the defendant breached that duty, and then that the breach was the cause of the damages. After you determine the proximate cause, you can calculate the damages, considering that the disease or issue was caused by the interference of the defendant. A defense against negligence is contributory negligence. This defense works by simply proving that the plaintiff is also guilty of negligence.

In the case of Alumina, where the influence over the environment could be considered immediate, prevention and detection would be to keep a close and constant inspection of all possible causes of contamination, instead of waiting for a compliance report from the EPA. Environmental regulation is one of the most important governmental business regulations. It demands heavy investments in the industry to allow it to achieve the required compliance, and yet, a minimum mistake could lead to a great penalty (Larson, 2003).

Another tort that could be raised against the company is the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress. The plaintiff would need to prove emotional distress due the actions of negligence ...