• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

SafetyRisk.net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

  • Home
    • About
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact
  • FREE
    • Slogans
      • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
      • When Slogans Don’t Work
      • CLASSIC, FAMOUS and INFAMOUS SAFETY QUOTES
      • 500 OF THE BEST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
      • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
      • COVID-19 (Coronavirus, Omicron) Health and Safety Slogans and Quotes for the Workplace
      • Safety Acronyms
      • You know Where You Can Stick Your Safety Slogans
      • Sayings, Slogans, Aphorisms and the Discourse of Simple
      • Spanish Safety Slogans – Consignas de seguridad
      • Safety Slogans List
      • Road Safety Slogans 2023
      • How to write your own safety slogans
      • Why Are Safety Slogans Important
      • Safety Slogans Don’t Save Lives
      • 40 Free Safety Slogans For the Workplace
      • Safety Slogans for Work
    • FREE SAFETY eBOOKS
    • Free Hotel and Resort Risk Management Checklist
    • FREE DOWNLOADS
    • TOP 50
    • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS
    • Find a Safety Consultant
    • Free Safety Program Documents
    • Psychology Of Safety
    • Safety Ideas That Work
    • HEALTH and SAFETY MANUALS
    • FREE SAFE WORK METHOD STATEMENT RESOURCES
    • Whats New In Safety
    • FUN SAFETY STUFF
    • Health and Safety Training
    • SAFETY COURSES
    • Safety Training Needs Analysis and Matrix
    • Top 20 Safety Books
    • This Toaster Is Hot
    • Free Covid-19 Toolbox Talks
    • Download Page – Please Be Patient With Larger Files…….
    • SAFETY IMAGES, Photos, Unsafe Pictures and Funny Fails
    • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
    • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • Social Psychology Of Risk
    • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
    • Safety Psychology Terminology
    • Some Basics on Social Psychology & Risk
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk – Prof Karl E. Weick
    • The Psychology of Leadership in Risk
    • Conducting a Psychology and Culture Safety Walk
    • The Psychology of Conversion – 20 Tips to get Started
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk And Safety
    • Psychology and safety
    • The Psychology of Safety
    • Hot Toaster
    • TALKING RISK VIDEOS
    • WHAT IS SAFETY
    • THE HOT TOASTER
    • THE ZERO HARM DEBATE
    • SEMIOTICS
    • LEADERSHIP
  • Dr Long Posts
    • ALL POSTS
    • Learning Styles Matter
    • There is no Hierarchy of Controls
    • Scaffolding, Readiness and ZPD in Learning
    • What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?
    • Presentation Tips for Safety People
    • Dialogue Do’s and Don’ts
    • It’s Only a Symbol
    • Ten Cautions About Safety Checklists
    • Zero is Unethical
    • First Report on Zero Survey
    • There is No Objectivity, Deal With it!
  • THEMES
    • Risk Myths
    • Safety Myths
    • Safety Culture Silences
    • Safety Culture
    • Psychological Health and Safety
    • Zero Harm
    • Due Diligence
  • Free Learning
    • Introduction to SPoR – Free
    • FREE RISK and SAFETY EBOOKS
    • FREE ebook – Guidance for the beginning OHS professional
    • Free EBook – Effective Safety Management Systems
    • Free EBook – Lessons I Have Learnt
  • Psychological Safety
    • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
    • Managing psychosocial hazards at work
    • Psychological Safety – has it become the next Maslow’s hammer?
    • What is Psychosocial Safety
    • Psychological Safety Slogans and Quotes
    • What is Psychological Safety?
    • Understanding Psychological Terminology
    • Psycho-Social and Socio-Psychological, What’s the Difference?
    • Build a Psychologically Safe Workplace by Taking Risks and Analysing Failures
    • It’s not weird – it’s a psychological safety initiative!
You are here: Home / Ethics / No Moral Compass in Zero

No Moral Compass in Zero

September 28, 2018 by Dr Rob Long Leave a Comment

No Moral Compass in Zero

image‘Humans by nature are social animals that are intended to co-inhabit in a polis’ William Bennett (1996) The Moral Compass, Stories of a Life’s Journey.

Ethics is the study of moral philosophy and moral systems. Without an ethic one cannot have an understanding of the core principles that guide behavior. Without a clear sense of one’s core principles one cannot enact a moral compass. Humans are social beings and in order to live in community must know how to enact a moral compass that enables co-inhabitant living. When one doesn’t respect the common good (through corruption) the community will always rise up and judge such corruption. We are witnessing this now.

We observe more and more in this era the corruption of people in high places, evidence of a lack of a Moral Compass in services and relationships, evidenced by:

· The Financial Services Royal Commission (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-28/banking-royal-commission-interim-report-kenneth-hayne/10315908).

· The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/)

· The Royal Commission into Aged Care (https://agedcare.health.gov.au/announcement-of-royal-commission-into-aged-care-quality-and-safety)

· Corruption in government (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-20/faith-in-australian-governments-falls-amid-corruption-concerns/10138928) and,

· Corruption in the health sector (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-16/health-authorities-siphoned-thousands-in-cash-gifts-corruption/10127008)

There are of course many other stories of corruption recently such as: the Slipper case (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-24/peter-slipper-sentencing-hearing/5759326 ), corruption in One Nation (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-26/electoral-commission-investigates-one-nation-plane/8560062), the sacking of the Prime Minister (https://indaily.com.au/news/business/media-week/2018/08/24/is-murdochs-empire-waging-a-war-on-the-prime-minister-of-australia/), the Kathy Jackson corruption (https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/kathy-jackson-pleads-not-guilty-over-health-services-union-fraud-20171120-gzoshm.html) and the Craig Thompson corruption (https://www.smh.com.au/national/disgraced-former-mp-craig-thomson-misspent-more-than-300000-from-hsu-20150911-gjk9ae.html) and much more.

An ethic of safety is a moral system (philosophy) of safety. An ethic is not a set of standards such as a ‘code of ethics’ but rather a moral philosophy. A code of ethics is the product and method of an ethic. An ethic is a moral system or moral compass. An ethic guides a group or person in moral philosophy. If an institution gets it wrong, the community will judge them as we are now witnessing across a number of industries.

At the heart of corruption is the vice of greed and self interest and a vacuum in an ethical sense of reality. Without an ethic (moral system) one has no philosophical base for moral decision making. One has no moral compass. A moral compass is not a regulatory map but rather a social contract with those who one lives in community to act justly, fairly, morally, respectfully and compassionately.

Moral decision making is based on core values related to: human communal living, respect for others, humanizing others and non exploitation. All the Royal Commissions that have been enacted in recent times are evidence that these organisations and industries have no Moral Compass. All the evidence demonstrates that these industries are consumed by: greed, self-interest, ego, power, exploitation and domination. Often this corruption is masked in propagandistic media campaigns that regurgitate simplistic mantras to a gullible public lacking discernment to ask critical questions. Indeed, any sense of critical thinking is now branded as ‘leftard’ or ‘socialist’ by vested interests who mask their unethical conduct behind populist discourse of ‘fake news’ (further read The Death of Truth by Kakutani). Somewhere along the line people stop and think, can a moral compass be that hard to read? The avalanche of judgment by the community for Banks, Churches, Insurance Companies, Aged Care Facilities and Parliament is a lesson in what not to do when in power.

At the foundation of all of these corrupt institutions is a lack of an ethic (moral compass). The foundation for an ethic starts with an understanding of virtue.

Now that the SIA has signed up to vision zero ideology aligned with the World Congress on Safety it has no chance of enacting systemic moral decision making. Without an Ethic of Safety that reconciles the reality of fallibility with the nature of human judgment and decision making, there can be no ethical outcome. Any demand for absolute zero for fallible people can only ever result in immoral outcomes. The ideology of absolutes is morally incongruent with the fallible nature of human being (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/fallibility-risk-living-uncertainty/). Any ethic that denies the nature of human being can only enact an immoral discourse.

How interesting that in the proclaimed SIA ‘Body of Knowledge’ (https://www.ohsbok.org.au/download-the-body-of-knowledge/) there is no ‘Ethic of Safety’. As long as the SIA remains signed up to zero, there can never be an ethic of safety. An ethic of safety can only emerge from a social framework on risk not a framework focused on objects. 75% of the SIA BoK is focused on objects.

Of course the ideology of zero is not real, it cannot be. It can only be the propaganda of an industry with no moral compass (https://safetyrisk.net/zero-vision-as-propaganda/). How can one treat others with respect, tolerance, understanding, care, compassion and trust when the framework for conduct is built on the absolute vice of intolerance??? Until an Ethic of Safety forms the foundation for safety conduct , all discussions of bullying, psychological injury, dehumanization and moral outrage for unethical outcomes will remain theatre. If the industry does develop an Ethic of Safety, it will have no choice but to remove zero from its discourse.

  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
  • More about Rob
Dr Rob Long

Dr Rob Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions
Dr Rob Long

Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)

  • Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual) - January 23, 2023
  • Getting the Balance Right in Tackling Risk - January 23, 2023
  • What is SPoR? - January 23, 2023
  • How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety - January 23, 2023
  • Afraid to Let Go of What Doesn’t Work in Safety - January 17, 2023
Dr Rob Long
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.

Please share our posts

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Ethics, Robert Long, Social Psychology of Risk, Zero Harm Tagged With: ethics, moral compass.SIA

Reader Interactions

Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Search and Discover More on this Site

Never miss a post - Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,495 other subscribers

Introduction to SPOR – FREE!!

SAFETY MYTHS SERIES

The Mythic Symbology of Safety

Posture Myths and Holistic Ergonomics

Safety Mythbusters

Don’t Be Emotional! Another Safety Myth

Tackling the Challenge of Heuristics in Safety

The Myth of Normal

NEW! Free Download

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • Rob long on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Matt Thorne on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Anonymous on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Jason on How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Rob Long on How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Admin on How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Rob Long on 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Gustavo Saralegui on 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Rob long on To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Wynand on To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Rob Long on To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • simon cassin on To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Rob Long on Records of safety activities: evidence of safety or non-compliance?
  • Matt Thorne on Free Online Workshops
  • Rob long on No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Brian Edwin Darlington on No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Risk Diversity on Book Launch – For the Love of Zero – in Portuguese
  • Rob Long on No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Risk Culture Builder on No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Mark Taylor on All Things Must Pass in Risk

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Footer

VIRAL POST – The Risk Matrix Myth

Top Posts & Pages. Sad that most are so dumb but this is what safety luves

  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • 500 OF THE BEST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
  • Road Safety Slogans 2023
  • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Safety Acronyms
  • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
  • 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity

Recent Posts

  • Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Getting the Balance Right in Tackling Risk
  • What is SPoR?
  • How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Afraid to Let Go of What Doesn’t Work in Safety
  • When You Don’t Know What to do in Safety, Have Another Blitz!!!
  • Gloves and Glasses Compliance
  • A Case of Desensitisation – What Would You Do?
  • How to Leave the Safety Industry
  • The Mythic Symbology of Safety
  • Dark Waters, The True Story of DuPont and Zero
  • 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Am I stupid? I didn’t think of that…
  • Don’t Look Now Safety, Your Metaphor is Showing
  • Ratio Delusions and Heinrich’s Hoax
  • To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Culture as a Wicked Problem, for Safety
  • Safety Leadership Training
  • Cultural Orientation in Risk
  • The Stanford Experiment and The Social Psychology of Risk
  • Objectivity, Audits and Attribution When Calculating Risk
  • Records of safety activities: evidence of safety or non-compliance?
  • Zero, The Seeking of Infinity
  • Safety Leadership Essentials
  • What Can Indiana Jones Tell Us About Culture
  • Safety as a Worldview
  • The Loathing of Limits
  • Culture Cannot be Framed Through Safety
  • Free Online Workshops
  • Safety Culture–Hudson’s Model
  • Book Launch – For the Love of Zero – in Portuguese
  • Advancing Backwards in Safety
  • The ‘Noise’ of Safety, Silence and Practicing of Mindfulness
  • All Things Must Pass in Risk
  • I’m just not that into safety anymore
  • Sticks and Stones and the Nonsense of Zero Harm
  • Courting Infallibility in Safety
  • Indicators of Risk
  • What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?
  • No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Just as Well Culture Doesn’t Listen to Safety
  • What Are the Benefits Of Social Psychology of Risk?
  • Short-Sighted Lenses by Safety
  • Is Safety the Empire of Non-Sense?
  • No Wonder Safety is Confused About Culture
  • Building High Performance Safety Cultures
  • Understanding iCue, a Visual, Verbal, Semiotic Method for Tackling Risk
  • On Culture and Safety
  • Focus on ‘Meeting’ people, not legislation – a path to risk maturity
  • The Moral Harm of the Zero Cult

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

Stop the Train I Want to Get Off

Culture About Much More Than Structure

Speaking Truth to Power and Safety

Myth and Symbols in Safety

Clarity Enabled

It’s not in the KPI or LTI but the MRI

A Philosophy of Safety

New Video Explains Cognitive Dissonance and Safety

Why Personify Safety?

History and Hindsight in Safety

The Psychology of Leadership in Risk

Workshop – Understanding Culture Tackling Risk

Selective and Slow Harm is not Zero Harm

Selective Harm for Rio Tinto

What Does SPoR Do?

International Workshops – Belgium

Certificate, Diploma and Masters Studies in SPoR

Envisioning and Creativity in Safety

The Psychic Effect of Safety

What Can Safety Learn from Barbie

Transdisciplinarity and Worldviews in Risk

Making Technicians Not Helpers

What Are the Benefits Of Social Psychology of Risk?

Risk vs Hazard vs Safety

You Can’t Will Attentiveness

And the Innovation is? More Controls…..

Who Said We Don’t Need Systems?

The Sound of Safety

The Domino Delusion in Safety

The Art of the Open Question

Turning Neuroscience into Behaviourism

The Dynamics of Dehumanisation

Human Dymensions Newsletter September 2016

The Trajectory of Zero Vision

Real Risk, An New Icon for SafetyRisk and Competition

Social Psychology of Risk – Body of Knowledge

Safety Should NOT Be About Safety

Free Download – Tackling Risk, A Field Guide to Risk and Learning

No Evidence for the Religion of Zero

Banning Head Protection is Safer

More Posts from this Category

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,495 other subscribers

How we pay for the high cost of running of this site – try it for free on your site

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY?

What is Psychological Safety at Work?