Analysis and Evaluation of the Williamtown Contamination Case and Professional Notion

This article discusses the Williamtown Contamination Case and the importance of professional ethics in various professions. It evaluates the actions of stakeholders based on ethical concepts and theories such as utilitarianism, Kantianism, virtue ethics, contractualism, and deontology.

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Question 1: Analysis and Evaluation of the Williamtown Contamination Case
Summary of the Case
The case is about the contamination of water around Williamtown Royal Australian
Air Force base near Newcastle. Expert reports indicate that even though the water looks clear
and clean, it is brimming with noxious carcinogenic chemicals called perfluorooctance
(PFOS) reportedly from Williamtown air base (Ray, 2016). Local residents and fishermen
have been warned against consuming seafood such as prawn. Doing so could result to
illnesses and ailments.
Case Facts
It is reported that the contamination is leaking from Williamtown Royal Australian
Air Force base, which is about three kilometers north of Fullerton Cove. The base is said to
have used a fire-fighting foam called aqueous film-forming foam that contained PFOS and
other toxic preflourinated compounds for more than 40 years from the 1970s to early 2000s
(Ray, 2016). The area around the base has sandy soil and shallow groundwater, thus,
Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) easily leaks off-base through soil and water. When in
water, the chemical is indigested by prawn and other marine fish such as wild oysters, which
are commercially harvested to provide human beings with food. For this reason, human
beings are exposed to the harm of these chemicals, which bio-accumulate and may be
harmful when they reach certain levels.
Historically, the same chemicals containing Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and other
toxic preflourinated compounds (PFCs) chemicals have been historically used in Teflon pans,
scotch guard, food containers, and metal plating (NSW Environmental Protection Authority,
2017).. Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) is now considered possibly harmful to human
beings, and its use is being discouraged in Australia. According to researchers, per-and poly-
fluorinated alkyl substances and their sister compound per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances

(PFAS) are very stable and do not break down easily. It is reported that such chemicals are
widely distributed in populations and ecosystems. With the contamination of the water
around Williamtown, residents were given some precautionary advice. These included not
using groundwater, borehole water, and surface water for cooking or drinking and not eating
eggs or drinking milk produced in the advisory area (NSW Environmental Protection
Authority, 2017).
Nonetheless, residents were allowed to consume fruit, vegetables, meat, and poultry produced
in the advisory area, but at moderate levels. The reason for this precautionary advice is that it
was difficult to ensure that produce in Williamtown area was not exposed to the PFAS
migrating from the Williamtown Royal Australian Air Force base. Further, residents were
warned against eating fish, prawn, and wild oysters caught in the investigation area.
However, they were allowed to eat commercially harvested oysters. Local residents and
fishermen who personally sourced and ate fish and seafood from the Hunter River Estuary,
Fullerton Cove, and Tilligerry Creek were advised to limit the number of servings of
individual species (NSW Environmental Protection Authority, 2017). To minimize exposure
to the contamination, they were advised to source seafood from a variety of locations
including the ocean and waterways outside the area of concern.
Important Stakeholders
Environmental issues and problems are today experienced in many regions around the globe.
The degree of the challenges and concerns, however, vary from one location to another as
influenced by the density of a population besides is growth rate, the nature of and the existing
technologies, the quality of the environmental units of the region, and the extent of the socio-
economic development besides many others. To solve the environmental concerns and
challenges that are generated by the dwellers, it would be of utmost importance to call on the
attention of collaborative engagement of all involved stakeholders. In this context of the

contamination of water around Williamtown, the primary stakeholders can mainly be grouped
into three among them risk losers like the local dwellers and fishermen, perpetrators of risk
who include the Williamtown Royal Australian Air Force base and finally risk managers who
are tasked with the responsibility of combating or reducing the risk and are members of the
NSW government and environmental units-the Environment Protection Authority, food
safety units-Food Standards Australia New Zealand among others.
To begin with are risk losers. In the context of Williamtown water contamination, local
residents and fishermen are the losers in the sense that the contamination has the worst
impacts on them with regard to economy, health as well as social being and most probably
their deeply held values. These groups mainly live around the investigation area, and their
source of livelihood is adversely affected. Secondly are risk perpetrators, and these are the
stakeholders that create the risk. In the case, the Williamtown air base is the risk perpetrator
in the sense that it uses chemicals that leak thereby causing water contamination.
Finally are risk managers. In this case, the government of NSW and its relevant units are
tasked with the responsibility of combating or reducing the risk and its impacts on the local
dwellers and the environment. There are other relevant groups among them federal, state, and
local regulators and personnel of environmental management besides those tasked with
responsibilities of continuous monitoring and maintenance. The experts and investigators are
also in this category.
Evaluation of the Actions of Various Stakeholders Based on Ethical Concepts and
Theories
Every aforementioned stakeholder engages in activities that either have the potential of
fostering or worsening the already existing situation. This section will evaluate the actions of
the various stakeholders based on various ethical theories namely utilitarianism, Kantianism,
virtue ethics, contractualism, and deontology.

To begin with are the actions of the risk losers, who are local residents and fishermen. Their
engagements are mostly significant in fostering of a sustainable surrounding. It is advisable
that this stakeholder group conducts itself in a manner that enhances the arrangement of the
surrounding and the locals in ways that are least hurting in the social and economic
perspectives. Their perfect way to behave can be explained based on the virtue ethics. The
residents and the local fishermen, although being hurt already, should maintain morality and
engage in ways that illustrate charity and benevolence (Melden, 2013).
Secondly are the perpetrators, the Williamtown air base. It is reported that operations at the
airbase are resulting in the contamination after the chemicals leak off-base. The best way that
the structure can assist control the scenario is through the utilization of other chemicals
whose impacts are less devastating both the life and on the environment. The activities of the
Williamtown airbase can best be described by the utilitarianism theory. The facility should
ensure that it acts such that it brings maximum benefit to the highest possible population of
people (Melden, 2013).
Finally are the risk managers who include the NSW government and its relevant units. These
should intervene to ensure that the Williamtown air base seizes from taking part in activities
which adverse impact the local society and environment. They should instead depend on the
Kantianism ethical theory to enhance virtues that are which best fit them, as opposed to
looking at the virtues as those that have good or admirable results and emotions (Melden,
2013).

Question 2
Professional Notion
A professional refers to an individual who has attained the level of profiency and is formally
proved or certified by a professional body by the virtue of completing the required training or
course of studies. This individual can therefore have his qualifications measured against the
standards that have been set and if they are of equivalent value then he or she is declared a
competent professional. The professional ethics on the other hand refers to the standards that
are professionally accepted on the behaviour of a person in regard to the existing values and
principles.
Regardless of the profession of an individual or the field that someone works in, the expected
quality performance or success will be dependent on the ability of the workers and how they
deal with the situations (Schmidt 2014). The fundamental requirement of any profession is
basically good ethics. It is therefore the integral part of any meaningful success. Good ethics
are usually maintained by being consistent with those principles that are meant to correct the
moral conducts. For several reasons, the professional ethics are very important.
First, a good number of professionals have an advantage of being more informed than the
people they render their services to. They are capable of making judgement while applying
the skills before making the informed decisions especially in the situations in which the
general public cannot since they have not acquired the necessary knowledge and skills. There
is likelihood of this advantage being misused by these professionals themselves. A
corresponding sense of professional integrity and responsibility is therefore needed to make
professionals act in the best interest of the clients (Han 2015). This will ensure that the
professional behaviour is up and nearly perfect besides providing the useful functions that aid

in the identification of the moral risks and hazards and setting appropriate avoidance
strategies.
Secondly, most of the professionals are known to be still inexperienced in their professional
fields. The professional ethics therefore aims at passing the sieved wisdom to these young
workers through provision of the proper guidance. It actually ensures that the laws of
profession remain objective despite the emergence of the new technologies and therefore the
responsibilities and best practices are kept intact.
The third importance of ethics is that it usually provides a countervailing power to the
authorities’ power and this will enable each and every individual to act in accordance to the
laid policies and the service charter of the organizations.
The professional ethics usually provides a saver grounds for the enforcement of the
disciplinary actions on those whose go against or violate the standards of the ethics.
Several countries have set their own statutory regulations of the standards of professional
ethics. In the England for example, there is a statutory body that governs the nursing practice
and midwifery. Individuals that fail to comply with these standards are declared viable to
convictions in the court of laws (Schmidt 2014). The part of the England ethical standard
states that a mere member of the public who happens to be at the accident scene of the car
crash should never be held responsible for failing to provide help to the victims of the crash.
This is quidded by the fact that he or she may not give the appropriate emergency treatment
needed at that particular moment. Their responsibility however extends to the attempts to get
help for the victim including contacting the emergency rescue team only.
This limitation act is guided by the fact that they have insufficient relevant knowledge and
skills that are required. However, a professional doctor with the relevant tools and equipment
may be charged with negligence and being unethical should he fail to save the victim of the

car crash. The consequences are attached to the practice or an act of the doctor who helps and
makes the mistake that is considered a result of negligence (Sutkus 2012). A lay member of
the public would only be charged with negligence offense for failing to act if there was
nothing at all that was done. If in the cause of his attempt to help the victim a mistake
happens that results into unintentional cause of death or more damage the he will enjoy the
protection of the good Samaritan law.
In the engineering profession, the safety of the project will always take precedence over the
cost of the project itself. This therefore means that safety standards should be met at whatever
cost. An entrepreneur who has started an engineering project may seek certification from a
professional engineer on the project that is unsafe. The qualified and very competent engineer
with high ethical values will definitely refuse to certify the project on the moral grounds. This
is a very good ethical practice. Another engineer with low moral values and greed for money
may decide to certify the project on a condition that he is offered a bribe. This is a violation
of the Kantian theory on the ethics. This theory prohibits the section of actions such as
murder and theft regardless of the consequences which sometimes may include happiness
(Pai 2013).
The rightness or the wrongness of the actions never depends on the consequences but should
just fulfil the primary duty. The statement therefore focusses on the people and not their
actions. An individual’s action is either wrong or right. He is morally upright or lacks the
moral values. The basic information here is that an individual is good or bad depending on
the motivation of their deeds and not the goodness of these activities. An individual who is
perceived to be good is just because he or she is motivated by morality and to him the
motivation is the key here. The moral worthiness only exists when one does something which
is considered as the duty. The engineer who takes bribe will definitely lead to murder if the
people using the building die.

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