A case of collective lying: How deceit becomes entrenched in organizational safety behavior

• Published in: Safety science 2024-08, Vol.176, p.106554, Article 106554
• Main Authors: Hayes, Jan, Maslen, Sarah, Schulman, Paul
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Business ethics; Locate and mark; Lying; Moral disengagement; Reliable regulation; Sociology of safety
• ISSN: 0925-7535
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2024.106554

•PG&E locate and mark provides a case study of organizational lying.•Despite cultural value of honesty, some lying is needed for social cohesion.•At work, lying may start almost accidentally and/or by omission.•Lying becomes entrenched when formal and informal incentives support it.•Keys to prevention are open lines of reporting, just culture and reliable regulation. This paper addresses lying among workers throughout an organizational hierarchy in the US company Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), who falsified their locate and mark records for nearly a decade. The investigation into the way in which locate and mark activities were managed and monitored gives unique insights into how lying about safety performance starts in corporations, how particular lies become part of a norm in work groups, and how they are justified when they are called out. Our analysis addresses the role of operational systems, bonus arrangements, day-to-day management instructions, and the regulatory environment. We argue that once lying about achieving specific goals becomes entrenched in an organization it is very difficult to uncover and to stop. Key to guarding against such conditions, and hopefully changing them, is focus on the safety requirements in terms of accident prevention, open lines of reporting throughout organizations, a ‘just’ culture, and reliable regulation.