The opposite of a hero isn’t always a villain. The opposite of a hero can be a bystander. The Volkswagen emissions scandal, the Takata airbag revelations and the Flint water crisis—the subject of this week’s Award of Excellence cover story—didn’t happen because a single evil actor set out to do harm. These events happened because too many people stood by and failed to speak up when they knew a bad decision was being made.

Some may have not realized that their decisions and inactions would cause harm. In a 2010 study, the American Society of Engineering Education found a majority of surveyed engineers didn’t recognize that their daily decision-making is an ethical act.