Liability and Morality

[Tim Altom <taltom -at- IQUEST -dot- NET>]

A question arose the other day and I thought I'd throw it open to the group.

Obviously what we do has an impact on a company's liability, an impact that
varies from insignificant to central, depending on what we're documenting,
the organization we're working for, and so forth. As a profession, what are
we ultimately responsible for in liability?

I'm not just talking about legalities, although that's a factor. What I'm
actually looking for is a moral underpinning. If a moron uses an electric
lawnmower to clip his hedge and cuts off body parts vital to a healthy
relationship, are we in any way responsible? Or is that responsibility the
property of our employers, the reviewers, or the editor?

How about regulatory matters that we don't investigate thoroughly enough?
And are we professionally obliged to reveal unsafe or unsavory things that
we find out within the company that we work for?

In short, are we responsible to the world at large, or only to our
employers? And if there is a middle ground, what's the degree one way or the
other?

Tim Altom
Vice President, Simply Written, Inc.
317.899.5882 (voice) 317.899.5987 (fax)
FrameMaker support  ForeHelp support

Makers of DuoFrame, giving you online help and paper
documentation from a single parent FrameMaker document.

http://www.iquest.net/simply/simplywritten

                  TECHWR-L List Information
To send a message about technical communication to 2500+ list readers,
E-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send administrative commands
         ALL other questions or problems concerning the list
       should go to the listowner, Eric Ray, at ejray -at- ionet -dot- net -dot-