A Safety Sense of Ethics
I note with amusement the AIHS attempt at tackling Ethics following its disastrous foray into the discipline of Ethics in the Body of Knowledge (https://safetyrisk.net/the-aihs-bok-and-ethics-check-your-gut/ ). I note too the Canadian Society for Safety Engineering (CSSE) proposal for an online course in Ethics. Perhaps these are the same course? Nothing like turning to engineers and the zero cult for some miseducation in Ethics. If you want to understand Ethics, don’t ask an engineer.
Of course what is predictable is that neither course tackles the essence of ethics. Interestingly, the background expertise and development of these courses is never mentioned. Neither is their any transparency in marketing, which of course is unethical. Similarly, the deontological bias of the AIHS BoK chapter on ethics is not owned nor any sense of the philosophical nature of ethics, which is unethical. Indeed, the clandestine nature of the chapter (38.3) about its deontological ethic, demonstrates that Safety hasn’t a clue about ethics.
The Safety brand of ethics (https://safetyrisk.net/what-brand-of-ethics-is-safety/) is not about ethics because its foundations are unethical (https://safetyrisk.net/zero-is-unethical/). If your foundation is zero, in denial of fallibility, then one’s position on personhood is untenable and therefore unethical.
Pretty soon, all those in the zero cult will gather in Spain (http://visionzero.global/vision-zero-safety-future-congress) to once again parade zero propaganda in non-vision (https://www.visionzerosummit.com/) as if brutalism is good for you.
How predictable to preach values of objectivity, transparency and impartiality (https://www.aihs.org.au/sites/default/files/20200517%20AIHS%20Code%20of%20Ethics_editable.pdf) and then contradict these values in presentation. You can see this contradiction in lights at the next cult convention.
If you want a laugh just have a look at the language on the zero vision promotion page by Hans-Horst Konkolewsky President, International ORP Foundation and Vision Zero Ambassador: ‘At first sight it may seem impossible: all accidents, diseases and injures are preventable.’ And you don’t need to read more. More denial of fallibility, more denial of personhood and more delusion about vision. You can’t envision a sense of risk from this unethical assumption (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/envisioning-risk-seeing-vision-and-meaning-in-risk/).
If you want further laughs just download the program (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6wk9voba9yhyra2/AADmZ064R0mA1uU2VRQPTuOda?dl=0&preview=Program_16.03-ENG.pdf). Perhaps you can go to the session entitled ‘Happy Vision Zero, Guys!’ a nice little sexist way to start your day, and unethical. Of course followed later by the session ‘Female power: female role in the HSE management development’. There’s no doubt about it, when Safety does unethical contradiction it does it well. Or maybe you can view the promotion video of using a forklift with no safety precautions (http://visionzero.global/why-vision-zero).
Then you could attend the session entitled ‘Pioneer’s time: success stories of the companies supporting Vision Zero’ or ‘Staff training in “imperfect” conditions’ or ‘Root causes of industrial accidents’ all sustaining the idea that zero is not possible. You couldn’t make this s*&t up. Of course, promoting zero is the opposite of being a visionary and pioneer. If you want to humanize safety then the first thing to go must be zero!
However, there is a ethical and successful alternative to zero.
If you want to read about pioneering in safety then read the story of ‘It Works, A New Approach to Safety’. (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/it-works-a-new-approach-to-risk-and-safety/ ). This is the story of an organization that dumped zero and then safety improved.
Dr Rob Long
Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)
- A Podcast with Dylan Evans - June 23, 2025
- Absolute Shocker of the Week - June 15, 2025
- The First Rule of the Titan, Don’t Talk About Safety Culture - June 15, 2025
- You Spell the Devil L-T-I and God P-P-E - June 15, 2025
- Meaningless Non-Vision in Safety - June 15, 2025
Ricardo Montero says
I learn a lot from Dr. Rob´s oppinion´s, but I think his marketing is unethical from time to time, I laugth a lot reading him and imaging the face of some ones, for example oppinions like “If you want to understand Ethics, don’t ask an engineer”. Are there some specific professionals who have the ethical key?, Ja, Ja, ja!!!!, Why? Whose “designed” to them? I have worked with many different professionals: engineers, physicians, psychologists, lawyers, administrators, economists, singers, pharmacists, teachers, etc. To some ones you can ask for ethics and to others…but NEVER depended of the profession. I think it is more deep the ethical behaviour and the ethical lenguage than your studies. There is a lot of efforts in university for examples, for complementing the values of their students with studies like ethic, including engineering´s studies, Being prejudiced is not good preaching.
Rob Long says
Ricardo. It’s quite straight forward, engineers do not study ethics.
Such a statement is not unethical.
Glad you know more about ethics than i, keep at it and thanks for the tip on prejudice, I’m sure you have no prejudice that is, apart from your judgmentalism of someone you don’t know.
Rob Long says
Bernard, its a sad indictment of an industry with zero vision that has no idea why all that is left is marketting and ads. It’s amazing how envisioning and safety improves when you dump zero and start thinking and humanising once again. The rest is just cosmetics on a pig.
Bernard Corden says
Our peak safety body is just a telemarketing scam with a membership base that is best summed up by the Mark Twain dictum……”It’s much easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”