Where there’s smoke, there’s fire—and that’s certainly the case at PG&E Corp. and Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which still has a long way to go in smothering the flames of legal liabilities and reputational damage sparked by an abysmal safety record that dates back decades.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...