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

Safety Risk .net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

  • Home
    • About
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact
  • FREE RESOURCES
    • FREE SAFETY eBOOKS
    • 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
  • PSYCHOLOGY OF SAFETY & RISK
    • 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
  • Covid-19
    • COVID-19 (Coronavirus, Omicron) Health and Safety Slogans and Quotes for the Workplace
    • Covid-19 Returning to Work Inductions, Transitioning, Safety Start Up and Re Entry Plans
    • Covid-19 Work from Home Safety Checklists and Risk Assessments
    • The Hierarchy of Control and Covid-19
    • Why Safety Loves Covid-19
    • Covid-19, Cricket and Lessons in Safety
    • The Covid-19 Lesson
    • Safety has this Covid-19 thing sorted
    • The Heart of Wisdom at Covid Time
    • How’s the Hot Desking Going Covid?
    • The Semiotics of COVID-19 and the Social Amplification of Risk
    • Working From Home Health and Safety Tips – Covid-19
    • Covid-19 and the Hierarchy of Control
  • Dr Rob Long 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!
  • Quotes & Slogans
    • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
    • When Slogans Don’t Work
    • 77 OF THE MOST CLASSIC, FAMOUS and INFAMOUS SAFETY QUOTES
    • 500 BEST and WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2021
    • 167 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
    • 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
You are here: Home / Ethics / Paralysis by Precaution

Paralysis by Precaution

June 11, 2019 by Dr Rob Long 9 Comments

Paralysis by Precaution

zero harmMunthe (2011) investigates the cost of precaution in his book The Price of Precaution and the Ethics of Risk. The Precautionary Principle (PP) is sometimes called ‘prudent avoidance’ and is premised on the idea that inaction in times of doubt and uncertainty is the best action. PP works like this: If in doubt about the trajectory or consequences of an activity, don’t proceed with the activity but take new actions to mitigate the doubt of harm? PP has become the standard notion in environmental policy and debate and fuels the psychosis of zero harm.

Foundational to any ethic of precaution is the notion of fallibility (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/fallibility-risk-living-uncertainty/ ). Humans are limited and cannot predict the future. The notion of Predictive Analytics is just more spin against the reality of fallibility. I’m sure some bookie would give odds against any claims to certainty in any prediction whether made by a computer or a human.

All humans can do in risk is to base judgment on available history and current evidence and then speculate about outcomes and consequences. This is the essence of ALARP. The best humans can do is to manage risk to As Low As Reasonably Practicable (https://vimeo.com/162637292). If one expects perfection then hire a zero harm manager, Ha!

All precaution has to be balanced on a range of ethical principles. The seven core ethical principles are:

  1. Autonomy (respecting the client’s right of self-determination and freedom of choice)
  2. Nonmaleficence (doing no-harm)
  3. Beneficence (promoting the wellbeing of others and society)
  4. Justice (being non-discriminatory, and providing equal and fair treatment of all others)

  5. Fidelity (being loyal and faithful to commitments in the therapeutic relationship)

  6. Veracity (dealing honestly with others)

  7. Self-care

No decision in risk can be removed from its context nor the ethical concerns of stakeholders in that decision. The way in which one weights any one of these seven ethical principles in a decision reflects one’s ethical worldview. The idea that decisions in risk and safety are neutral is nonsense.

An ethic in risk is determined by one’s anthropology in the face of uncertainty. How one makes a decision in tackling risk is based on one’s ethic. One needs to know that even the Act and Regulation are interpreted and there is no neutral interpretation of the Act. Just as there are 9 schools of thought in risk and safety (https://safetyrisk.net/a-great-comparison-of-risk-and-safety-schools-of-thought/) so too are there schools of thought in ethics.

For the purposes of this discussion let’s explore the seven common approaches to ethics.

1. Virtue Ethics

Emphasize the role of character and virtue in moral philosophy. The focus is not so much on consequence as on the virtue underlying the decision.

2. Natural Law Ethics

Defines moral value by law not by authority. Asserts that certain choices are either right or wrong.

3. Social Contract Ethics

Moral good is established by mutual social responsibility.

4. Utilitarian Ethics

Places the locus of right and wrong solely on the outcomes (consequences)

5. Deontological Ethics

Morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules, rather than based on the consequences of the action.

6. Care Ethics

Centres on interpersonal relationships and care or benevolence as a virtue.

7. Situational Ethics

Takes into account context rather that based on absolutes.


Each one of these schools of ethics weighs one or more of the seven ethical principles over another and often trade-offs one principle against another.

So where does this leave us with the challenges of PP? Sunstein (2005, Laws of Fear, Beyond the Precautionary Principle) asserts that PP always leads to paralysis. That is, one can only be fearful under PP (zero) because in the face of uncertainty one cannot make a decision. This is the terror of absolute risk aversion and the psychosis of zero.

When no injury can be tolerated, no mistake can be made, when humans must be infallible, there can only be paralysis.

  • 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)

  • Culture Silences in Safety Mythology - May 16, 2022
  • The Safety Trifecta and Nothing Changes - May 14, 2022
  • Sleep Dysfunction, Dreaming and Safety - May 12, 2022
  • Working Out What Makes Sense in Safety - May 9, 2022
  • How to Tackle Risk You Can’t See - May 6, 2022
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 this 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, Precautionary Principle, Zero Harm

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bernard Corden says

    June 12, 2019 at 4:14 PM

    The medical profession certainly has its share of dilemmas. The Brazilian physician Drauzio Varella calculated that the world invests five times as much in male sex stimulants and female silicone implants as in finding a cure for Alzheimer’s.

    He prophesied that in a few years we will have elderly women with huge tits and old men with stiff c0ck$ but none of them will remember what they are for.

    Reply
    • Dave Collins says

      June 12, 2019 at 8:25 PM

      hahaha – At least they won’t be rolling out of bed

      Reply
      • willem Muurling says

        July 14, 2019 at 5:40 PM

        So it is still a safety precaution?

        Reply
  2. Rob Long says

    June 12, 2019 at 11:55 AM

    Indeed, that is the point of understanding ethics, that some professions prioritize one ethical principle ahead of another. Of course zero as an absolute is a deontological ethic in the tradition of Kant. At least the medical profession studies ethics and knows it lives in ethical dilemma.

    Reply
  3. Bernard Corden says

    June 12, 2019 at 10:24 AM

    The precautionary principle evolves from the German socio-legal term Vorsorgeprinzip, which reflects the Hippocratic Oath and the medical profession maxim……First do no harm.

    Indeed the medical profession is beholden to a robust code of ethics, which is barely covered in the Ayn Rand Fountainhead of Safety or body of knowledge and somewhat clandestine amongst the safety cult.

    Reply
  4. Rob Long says

    June 12, 2019 at 9:37 AM

    Hi David,

    I think first of all one needs to ‘do’ or study a bit of philosophy-ethics, something completely absent in the current WHS curriculum. Indeed, Safety is completely silent on the issue including our friends at safety differently. There is this strange belief in safety that everything is neutral.

    Most people in safety would have trouble recognising the driving philosophy behind many popular actions to tackle risk. People may know they hate being dominated and bullied but can’t connect or articulate their concern the the underlying philosophy in organising. It’s often when they brush up against a lawyer that they find their philosophy of safety wanting.

    Unfortunately, the drift between E H & S is massive as well as with HR. In my experience it seems that safety is viewed as a lesser value in organisations, the poor cousin. Again, I think this is also connected to poor levels of education in the sector and simplistic notions about what safety is.

    I don’t think there is a way of separating safety away from other disciplines which is why I advocate a transdisciplinary approach to safety. Again, that would take a huge shift in the WHS curriculum away from a mono-disciplinary view of risk. I don’t think the issues and mechanisms are the same. Environmentalists and Health professionals have a completely different methodology in formation, value and philosophy. These are much more humanistic whereas safety is very technicist. Imagine anyone in these professions buying the psychosis of zero??? Imagine a health professional in a hospital demanding zero death? or an environmentalist demanding zero harm?

    I think Safety is many years behind the education of these professions and as yet doesn’t understand nor debate the nature of professionalism like these professions. Safety is still stuck in making noise and changing brands rather than tackling underlying philosophical tensions in discourse with a head-in-sand approach to its own unethical discourse. As long as the LTI rate is going down and we are happy with TRIFR, all is well.

    Reply
  5. David Skegg says

    June 12, 2019 at 9:07 AM

    And yet, as you say, the precautionary principle is a major driver in the environmentalist’s armamentum. Given that many of the jobs are now typified as Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) or similar, how can the person with that job successfully differentiate between the demands of the environmental debate, and the “safety” issues? Is there some way of separating philosophies to the extent that the executive management can understand the implications? After all, the issues and mechanisms are essentially the same; it is just the consequences that differ… (If it is inside the fence, it’s a safety issue; if it goes outside the fence, it’s an environmental issue…)

    Reply
    • Dave Collins says

      June 12, 2019 at 8:23 PM

      Many carry the burden of a Q in their title as well – and responsibility for zero defects

      Reply
  6. Bernard Corden says

    June 12, 2019 at 8:35 AM

    The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection – George Orwell

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search and Discover More on this Site

Visit Count – Started Jan 2015

  • 24,003,085 Visitors

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 7,419 other subscribers

NEW! Free Download

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

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • Roel on Free Workplace Health and Safety Downloads
  • Rob Long on Safety Silences – Video Series
  • BRENT R CHARLTON on Safety Silences – Video Series
  • Rob Long on Sleep Dysfunction, Dreaming and Safety
  • Rob Long on Working Out What Makes Sense in Safety
  • simon cassin on Working Out What Makes Sense in Safety
  • Rob Long on The Safety Trifecta and Nothing Changes
  • Aneta Parker on The Safety Trifecta and Nothing Changes
  • Rob Long on How to Tackle Risk You Can’t See
  • Andrew Thornhill on How to Tackle Risk You Can’t See

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Featured Downloads

  • Contractor Risk Assessment Form (3864 downloads)
  • Telecommuting Safety Checklist (10212 downloads)
  • Manual Handling Risk Assessment Form (1380 downloads)
  • violence_checklist.pdf (2126 downloads)
  • Preventing Heat Exhaustion (17574 downloads)
  • Guidance-FOR-the-beginning-OHS-professiona1.docx (22499 downloads)
  • Public-Event-Risk-Management-Checklist-HD.doc (3737 downloads)
  • Vehicle Visual Inspection (9190 downloads)
  • Zero-to-HRO.docx (1961 downloads)
  • UV_Risk_Assessment_Checklist-1.doc (2269 downloads)
  • National-Emergency-Risk-Assessment-Guidelines.pdf (2536 downloads)
  • Covid-19 Construction Protocols (663 downloads)
  • Deck_and_balcony_safety_guide.pdf (3846 downloads)
  • Awareness-EBook-Rev-01.pdf (2078 downloads)
  • Driving Safety (8498 downloads)

Recent Posts

  • Culture Silences in Safety Mythology
  • The Safety Trifecta and Nothing Changes
  • Sleep Dysfunction, Dreaming and Safety
  • Working Out What Makes Sense in Safety
  • How to Tackle Risk You Can’t See
  • Study Reveals an Unexpected Side Effect of Traffic Safety Messages
  • Human Factors is Never About Humans
  • Where to Start in Humanising Leadership in Risk
  • Humanising Leadership in Risk, Shifting the Focus from Objects to Persons
  • Safety Silences – Video Series

What is Psychological Safety at Work?

Footer

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 7,419 other subscribers

AUTHORS

  • Alan Quilley
    • Heinrich–Industrial Accident Prevention
    • The Problem With ZERO Goals and Results
  • Bernard Corden
    • After the goldrush
    • The Internationale
  • Bill Sims
    • Employee Engagement: Chocolate, Vanilla, or Strawberry?
    • Injury Hiding-How do you stop it?
  • Craig Clancy
    • Task Based vs Activity Based Safe Work Method Statements
    • Safety And Tender Submissions
  • Daniel Kirk
    • It’s easy being wise after the event.
    • A Positive Safety Story
  • Dave Whitefield
    • Safety is about…
    • Safety and Compliance
  • Dennis Millard
    • Are You Risk Intelligent?
    • Honey they get me! They get me at work!
  • Drewie
    • Downturn Doin’ Your Head In? Let’s Chat….
    • How was your break?
  • Gabrielle Carlton
    • All Care and No Care!
    • You Are Not Alone!
  • George Robotham
    • How to Give an Unforgettable Safety Presentation
    • How To Write a Safety Report
  • Goran Prvulovic
    • Safety Manager – an Ultimate Scapegoat
    • HSE Performance – Back to Basics
  • James Ellis
    • Psychological Core Stability for Wellbeing in Workers Comp
    • In search of plan B in workers’ recovery
  • James Parkinson
    • To laugh or not to laugh
    • People and Safety
  • John Toomey
    • In it for The Long Haul – Making the most of the FIFO Lifestyle
    • Who is Responsible for This?
  • Karl Cameron
    • Abby Normal Safety
    • The Right Thing
  • Ken Roberts
    • Safety Legislation Is Our Biggest Accident?
    • HSE Trip Down Memory Lane
  • Mark Perrett
    • Psychology of Persuasion: Top 5 influencing skills for getting what you want
  • Mark Taylor
    • Build a Psychologically Safe Workplace by Taking Risks and Analysing Failures
    • Enculturing Safety
  • Max Geyer
    • WHS Legislation is NOT about Safety it’s about Culture
    • Due Diligence Is Not Just Ticking Boxes!
  • Matt Thorne
    • Safety Culture–Hudson’s Model
    • Culture – Edgar Schein
  • Peter Ribbe
    • Is there “Common Sense” in safety?
    • Who wants to be a safety professional?
  • Phil LaDuke
    • Professional Conferences Are A Sleazy Con
    • Hey Idiots, You’re Worried About the Wrong Things
  • Admin
    • Study Reveals an Unexpected Side Effect of Traffic Safety Messages
    • Humanising Leadership in Risk, Shifting the Focus from Objects to Persons
  • Dr Rob Long
    • Culture Silences in Safety Mythology
    • The Safety Trifecta and Nothing Changes
  • Rob Sams
    • The Learning (and unlearning) that Revealed my Vocation
    • I’m just not that into safety anymore
  • Barry Spud
    • Things To Consider When Developing And Designing Your Company SWMS
    • Bad Safety Photos
  • Sheri Suckling
    • How Can I Get the Boss to Listen?
  • Simon Cassin
    • Safety values, ideas, behaviours and clothes
  • Safety Nerd
    • The Block isn’t portraying safety as it should be
    • Toolbox Talk Show–PPE
  • Wynand Serfontein
    • Why The Problem With Learning Is Unlearning
    • I DON’T KNOW
  • Zoe Koskinas
    • Why is fallibility so challenging in the workplace?

Most commented on

The Unconscious and the Soap Dispenser

Forecasting Safety

The Banned Objects Index – A New Development in Safety Culture

Dumbs for Safety

The Real Barriers to Safety

Safety as Faith Healing

Who Said We Don’t Need Systems?

How to use signs, symbols and text effectively in communicating about risk

Why Safety Controls Don’t Always Work

Safety Should NOT Be About Safety

FEATURED POSTS

Risk Intelligence, Thinking and Decision Making

Something’s gotta give..

Goals and Vision in Safety

Say Something that Makes Sense

Selective Safety and Well Being

Due Diligence Workshop Sydney 20,21 February 2019

Social Psychology of Risk – Body of Knowledge

Pascal’s Wager and Sacred Safety

Could Understanding Grey Be The Silver Bullet

Risk and Safety Starts with Being?

Learning Wisdom from the Collective Unconscious

I’m 100% Certain About That….

A Masters Degree in ‘Tick and Flick’

The Challenges for Organisations in Dealing with Mental Health

Its All In The Sign

The Moment of Decision in Safety

A Professional Ethic of Risk

What Safety and Risk Could Learn From Patch Adams

Why Safety is Inescapably Theological

Censorship and Taboos in Safety

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 7,419 other subscribers

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

 

How To Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer

 

 

How to Make your own Covid-19 Face Mask

 

Covid-19 Returning To Work Safety, Transitioning, Start Up And Re Entry Plans

 

How’s the Hot Desking Going Covid?

imageOne of the benefits of the Covid-19 epidemic is a total rethink about how we live and work (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-28/coronavirus-could-reshape-how-australians-work-forever/12097124 ).

Expertise by Regurgitation and Re-Badging

One of the fascinating things about the Coronavirus pandemic is watching Safety morph into epidemiology expertise. I would like a dollar for every flyer, presentation, podcast, powerpoint, checklist template, toolbox talk and poster set that had jumped into my inbox… Read the rest

The Stress of Stasis

One of the challenging things about the Coronavirus crisis is stasis. For those without work and confined to home, for those in self-isolation, it’s like life is frozen in time. ‘Stay at home’ is the mantra. The trouble is, in… Read the rest

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.