Here's how I test it :
emacs -Q -L ~/sources/org-mode/lisp/ test.org -f whitespace-mode

then hit:
M-x whitespace-mode RET ;; not required
M-x outline-show-all RET ;; not required
C-c C-x C-c ;; enter org-columns
q ;; leave it

The buffer is still marked "unmodified" but there are five space
characters at the end of the headline. (and this will later confuse org
element cache which thus give errors, but I guess that's to be
expected.)

Emacs  : GNU Emacs 25.0.50.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, X toolkit, Xaw scroll bars)
 of 2015-07-11 on Aurora
Package: Org-mode version 8.3beta (release_8.3beta-1286-g20795f @ /home/youngfrog/sources/org-mode/lisp/)