Ethics and the Foundation for Being Professional

The foundation for any profession starts with a mature understanding of ethics. Knowing what is right and wrong doesn’t come ‘naturally’, by so called ‘common sense’ or from god. The AIHS BoK Chapter on non-ethics is constructed on these assumptions and is useless for any real understanding of professional ethics.

It is no surprise that it took the AIHS years and 38 Chapters to realise that ethics is the foundation of professionalism. Even then, coming in at chapter 38, this deontological ethic simply enables the industry to be more brutal to people.

Of course, a study of ethics is not a foundation of any safety curriculum (https://safetyrisk.net/the-safety-generalist-without-a-generalist-education/). Yet, the industry loves to parade the word ‘professional’ everywhere. Such branding is misleading and fraudulent.

If ethics was the foundation for a professional ethic for safety, the ideology of zero (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/zero-the-great-safety-delusion/) would be jettisoned immediately.

Of course, the AIHS BoK Chapter on ethics doesn’t discuss zero, the nature of power or any other critical element in ethics required to claim the word ‘professional’.

BTW, a code of ethics is not an ethic.

Ethics doesn’t just ask the question ‘what should we do’? but also ‘justify what we should do’?

The study of ethics is essentially: a philosophical study of personhood, the use of power and morality. You won’t find any of these in any safety curriculum across the globe.

Any projection of ‘do the right thing’, moral duty and ‘common-sense’ morality is naïve and dangerous. When I worked in prisons, everyone had a good and moral reason for why they did what they did.

Unfortunately, the safety industry has little time for philosophy and tends to think that such is some kind of academic irrelevance – a wonderful justification for brutalising people in the name of good. Any industry that expects perfection from fallible people can only ever deliver brutalism.

But don’t worry, safety has ethics covered. I know let’s get an engineer to deliver a course on ethics!!! (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-the-expert-in-everything-and-the-art-of-learning-nothing/).

If you actually want to study ethics in a positive and practical way and, understand it as a foundation for professionalism, you can start here: https://cllr.com.au/product/an-ethic-of-risk-workshop-unit-17-elearning/

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Prof. Robert Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions

Latest posts by Prof. Robert Long (see all)

• Weick and Organisational Sensemaking - June 12, 2026
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• The Evolution of Safety Beliefs and Rhetoric - June 6, 2026

PhD., MEd., MOH., BEd., BTh., Dip T., Dip Min., Cert IV TAA, MRMIA Rob is the founder of Human Dymensions and has extensive experience, qualifications and expertise across a range of sectors including government, education, corporate, industry and community sectors over 30 years. Rob has worked at all levels of the education and training sector including serving on various post graduate executive, post graduate supervision, post graduate course design and implementation programs.