I have seen similar situations in my experience. Often times the fear of termination and disagreeing with the higher ups forces employees to keep quiet. This is an issue that is continuing to increase and can cause a great deal of issues down the line for employee moral as well as the company’s throughput. An unreported issue may lead to great detriment down the line. In the case of a product recall for example, a company can be severely fined and may cost lives. However, when employees such as the engineer you mentioned, speak up they can help to stop the issue before it gets out of hand.