ETHICS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES - Essay Example

The asbestos inhaled by the workers during production caused asbestosis, chronic disease of the lungs (Upadhyay 2009). Asbestos is a mineral that is an extraordinary useful commercial property. It was used in construction sites, power plants, government projects and of most important was the building of ship. In fact, the James Hardie Industries (JHI) was known to have the largest labour force, which over saw its use in the production of fibre cement in Australia. Through this, workers started experiencing asbestosis after a certain period of time and complains arose on the claims for compensation for attracting the disease (Larson 1977) It was about this time that James Hardie faced a suit by the workers due to his ignorance on their pleas.

His group sought to depress the issue by settling the cases through the establishment of a Medical Research and Compensation Foundation (MRCF), which was supposed to handle claims and payments of asbestos poisoning from its products. However those who were given the mandate to manage the research assumed a consistent position that the assessment of the asbestos liabilities at all the relevant times was adequate, with unrelated legal entity for which it had no responsibility (Sneyd 1994). Soon the foundation was rendered under-funded with A$293 million where an estimate of $2.

2 B was required and this became a major public issue with the merging of various victim groups, politicians, and media personalities among other supporters who were pushing for intervention from the government. In response to their demand, an inquiry was set to investigate the Jack Hardie group. As a result, Larson 1977 argues that the MRCF was instructed by the government to offer adequate compensation for all the future asbestos victims who had worked at the James Hardie Industries (JHI). Due to extreme pressure from the government and the public, James Hardie