It's not uncommon for employees to protect their status by screening or withholding information that might reflect badly on them if revealed to management.
Withholding information could have major consequences when it comes to safety. The risks of personal injury, property damage, enforcement fines or civil liability could all have a dramatic human and financial impact. These risks should only be managed by duly authorized, upper level administrators. But how can administrators obtain the objective information they need? A staff or contracted safety professional must have the latitude to inspect and audit all operations and report his/her findings directly to executive management. Here's an example to prove my point: