Care Ethics gets no mention in the AIHS BoK Chapter on Ethics, a sure sign that it was written by an amateur. Similarly, this unprofessional Chapter makes no mention of other critical elements of safety culture eg. Power and Zero, a truly amateurish work. There is also no map to help one understand the terrain of Ethics.
Of course, one can’t select a choice of virtues without declaring openly one’s founding moral philosophy. Even then, Virtue Ethics in itself has clear roots in Aristotelian philosophy and has a number of ‘schools’ of thought within that group. Perhaps the best place to start in understanding Virtue Ethics is MacIntyre (2007) After Virtue
The virtues are most associated with a sense of ‘character’ and they list over 100.
So, when one decides to select which of these virtues are ‘ten for safety culture’, one is being subjectively selective about what one leaves in and what one leaves out.
Similarly, the vices that wreck safety culture should also be discussed (eg. Ego, Technique, Power, Money, Measurement, Certainty, Binary Opposition, Arrogance etc). Isn’t it strange that this safety industry wonders why it has a toxic culture but never discusses the vices that make it so. Similarly, it holds to a poor definition of culture that helps no-one (‘what we do around here’).
Understanding the vices is the key to understanding the dialectic between these forces/energies that enable or disable safety culture. Any book that discusses virtues should also discuss vices.
There is no objective idea of what virtues are best to enable a positive safety culture.
Indeed, if you have previously rubbished the idea of a ‘safety culture’ then it seems most odd to come out with a list of 10 virtues for something you don’t believe in.
In SPoR, our moral philosophy has been articulated and declared in many of our books (https://www.humandymensions.com/shop/ ). It is from this philosophy that we find our top 10 virtues for a Positive Safety Culture in: Faith, Wonder, Love, Hope, Justice, Wisdom, Grace, Mercy, Resilience and Service. You can read more about the virtues here: https://www.virtuesproject.com/virtues-definitions-1
However, well before one commences discussing narrow ideas of what characteristics make up a positive safety culture, one needs to clearly declare ‘an ethic of risk’. An ethic of risk emerges out of a clearly articulated moral philosophy/ontology. One thing we do know is that the SD, NV, HOP, RE, S2 camp have never articulated a moral philosophy. This is why it has no method. If you move into this sector what one gets is a collection of slogans but no method. There is no safety differently.
So, from the foundation of SPoR moral philosophy, let’s explore the top 10 virtues for establishing a positive safety culture, these are:
Faith: Of course, this is the word Dekker rejects in his theology of suffering and also in his theology of atonement. Indeed, he wants to use religious language but doesn’t want his audience to know how profoundly religious he is (https://safetyrisk.net/is-there-a-place-for-atonement-in-safety/). Of course, Dekker has no expertise in Theology and confesses that in his theology of suffering. But this is the safety way, exegesis on what one doesn’t know and sell it to those with no discernment.
But in SPoR, we know that the foundation for understanding risk is faith. Every step-in risk, is a leap of faith into the unknown or what Kay and King call ‘Radical uncertainty’ (https://safetyrisk.net/radical-uncertainty/ ). This is the foundation of fallibility. Of course, no-one in SD, NV, HOP, RE, S2 talks about fallibility, an Ethic or moral philosophy.
Faith has never been exclusively a religious word. It simply means an unfounded trust in something with no evidence for certainty. It also has been used in religion to define a hope for something longed for. But I can have faith in my wife or that my car will start.
Wonder: This is the beginning for understanding wicked problems, the mystery of faith, fallibility, uncertainty, mythology, semiotics, ritual and the unconscious. The quest for zero is the grand delusion of safety. So, in order to mature in risk and safety one must embrace faith and wonder.
Love: Is a much stronger virtue than kindness, empathy and forbearance. Love subsumes all of these in its dynamic. If you want to know what love is, perhaps start with that famous poem by the Apostle Paul read at most weddings (1 Corinthians 13). Most importantly, love cannot be measured and enters into the virtues of Faith and Wonder. There are several meanings for the word love, the most powerful being what Pauls calls ‘agape’ love.
Hope: This is what emerges when one starts with Faith, Wonder and Love as a foundation. Hope of course is coupled to Faith and is the outworking of faith. Hope is also personified and should be understood as an Archetype.
Justice: Hope is tempered by Justice, which too is personified as an Archetype. This is why when I wrote the book Envisioning Risk (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/envisioning-risk-seeing-vision-and-meaning-in-risk/) we anchored Leadership Vision to the Love-Faith-Hope-Justice dialectic. Indeed, one cannot cherry pick any one of these out from the other, they make a unified whole. In this way, Justice interrogates the other and emerges as Wisdom.
Wisdom: Wisdom comes out of not knowing and is tempered by the virtue of Doubt. To understand more about Wisdom perhaps read anything by Sternberg (The Cambridge Handbook on Wisdom is s good start – https://archive.org/details/handbookofwisdom0000unse). Sternberg’s other great contribution is his book The Triarchic Mind (https://archive.org/details/triarchicmindnew00ster). A wonderful primer for the 1B3M foundation that is anchored to SPoR Methodology (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/spor-and-semiotics/).
Grace: Grace emerges from a dialectic between Wonder, Love and Hope. Grace believes in the other and the will to learn until the evidence suggest that the other has no interest in learning. Grace is not interested in ‘telling’ nor does it anchor to certainty. Grace opens up to the other until the other closes the door on Grace. This is most evident in the quest for ego, efficiency, arrogance, power and Technique. These are often paraded as good yet are vices common in the safety industry.
Mercy: Mercy gives enough Grace until tolerance expires. Mercy doesn’t seek judgement nor does it want scapegoats. Mercy is the outworking of the previous Virtues and is coupled to them.
Resilience: Resilience is NOT individual but social (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/everyday-social-resilience-being-in-risk/). Resilience emerges from communities that practice the previously mentioned virtues. Resilience is a consciousness that is manifest from the Collective Unconscious and rejects the delusions of individualism and mental fitness. Everyday Social Resilience rejects the nonsense of Resilience Engineering and looks to an ecology of Resilinece experienced in Socialitie.
Service: Finally of our 10 Top Virtues for a Positive safety Culture we have Service. Again this is coupled in dialectic to other of the virtues which leads away from self/ego and the marketing of self to Sacrifice, Love, Mercy, Love, Faith and Hope. Greenleaf called this Servant Leadership (https://archive.org/details/20200601-the-servant-as-leader) and what Gerard Egan called The Skilled Helper (https://archive.org/details/skilledhelperpro00egan).
You can see where the notion of virtue is situated on the following map (Mapping Ethics, Morality and Virtues).
Mapping Ethics, Morality and Virtues
Unless one is led in some understanding as this map provides, a grab bag of a few virtues doesn’t tell you much. Neither without a clearly articulated moral philosophy, a collection of virtues doesn’t help hold much together and, most likely confuses slogans and principles as HOP does, which has no method.
If you are interested in learning about Ethics, moral philosophy, virtues and an ethic of risk you can sign up here for our next free module: https://safetyrisk.net/free-module-ethics-and-risk/. In this free Zoom module, we discuss many critical elements of Ethics that are never mentioned in the safety industry that holds onto its deontological ethic in blindness to other moral philosophies. This module is a positive, constructive and practical way to develop how to be more professional in risk.
The module runs for 5 zoom sessions are starts on Tuesday 18 March 2025 at 7am Canberra time. You can sign up here: admin@spor.com.au
Dr Rob Long
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