Whistleblowing as an act has helped save countless lives and bring to justice businesses that endangered workers and customers alike with unsafe practices.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has its own whistleblower program that encourages people to come forward and report such potential violations.
What to blow the whistle on
The NHTSA discusses whistleblower programs and how they can help the workforce. Essentially, a whistleblower will draw federal attention to a business that has decided to cut corners in order to maximize profit, among other poor choices that can endanger other people.
As Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards demands, cars marketed to the public must meet a specific level of safety. The three safety categories monitored include crash avoidance, crashworthiness and post-crash survivability.
Defects and design flaws that might cause a car to fail in one of these categories can constitute enough of a violation to make whistleblowing the right option. Vehicle manufacturers need to test for safety before sending their cars out onto the market, and if they do not fix any issues they find, this is also grounds for blowing the whistle.
Protections and benefits
Of course, due to the fact that retaliation for whistleblowing can and does happen, programs for whistleblowers do all they can to protect the individual’s identity. On top of that, firing an employee for blowing the whistle violates labor laws.
In addition, many organizations like the NHTSA will offer rewards for blowing the whistle. Information that leads to penalties can net the person who brought attention to the issue a pretty surprising sum.