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

Safety Risk .net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

Discover More on this Site

  • 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) 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 WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2020
    • 167 CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
    • COVID-19 (Coronavirus) 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

The Ethics of Safety

May 16, 2015 by Dr Rob Long 5 Comments

A very popular article by Dr Rob Long from the recent past:

The Ethics of Safety

Quote:

The key to the effectiveness of an ethic in safety is the humanization of others and the building of relationships. It is strange that the vice of intolerance is advocated in the workplace but we would never want such a vice in our home relationships. The challenge for the safety community is to understand the impact of negative ethics and seek positive ethics in the promotion of care, safety and the management of risk.

With the news of corruption within Leighton Holdings  and evidence of corruption in sport (football drugs scandal), unions  and political parties it is timely to raise the issue of ethics in relation to safety.

Most people in safety are familiar with the notion of a ‘code of ethics’ and professional standards, such codes and standards are the systematic articulation of the core values and principles by which individuals and organisations seek to act. At the foundation of ethics are moral principles by which human activity is judged as right or wrong. At this level the following beliefs are held: respect for persons, the value of humanity, environment and community, the non-exploitation of others, the humanization of people, the prioritization of human rights and common good. Unethical conduct generally demonstrates the misuse of power: for self, exploitation of others, dehumanization in outcomes and the oppression of others. Associated with the idea of ethical practice are virtues such as: justice, tolerance, love, generosity, acceptance, honesty, integrity, respect, courage, hope and wisdom. Vices such as: greed, slander, lust, violence, exploitation and selfishness are considered anti-human and ‘depraved’. In this article I will outline three popular ethical actions that are negative and three that are positive for consideration.

clip_image002Recent examples of corruption show that the ethic of ‘the end justifies the means’ (advocated by pragmatism and utilitarianism) is alive and thriving in the safety community. At the foundation of this ethic is the idea that outcomes and outputs justify process. So, as long as I have an honourable motive and achieve a (self defined) good outcome, the action is justified regardless of who is dehumanized in the process. This is how the ideology of zero justifies its absolutist claims over others and demands perfectionism of fallible others. Since when did intolerance become a virtue? In this ethic, the denial of self determination, denial of autonomy of others, the coercion of compliance and disempowerment of others is justified for a ‘greater’ good (no harm). The freedom of others, choice in risk and self determination in risk is of no value to the ideology of risk aversion. We see this often in the way safety people make choices to ‘save others from themselves’. It is strange that safety people seem delighted to override the self determination of others but don’t like when it is foisted on themselves. The assumption of this ethic is that all others are stupid, irresponsible and ignorant. Such an ethic has no notion of competing goals, psychology of risk or heuristics. This ethic is evident in the Victorian TAC road safety campaign where this week they have gone to new heights in Melbourne in insulting the public, soon the poster will come out that everyone is a friend of a bloody idiot, indeed we are all bloody idiots except the Victorian TAC.

Further read the article https://safetyrisk.net/whose-the-bloody-idiot/

Another ethic that seems to govern safety is the ‘ethic of entitlement’, in this ethic one assumes power and authority over others justified by regulation, legislation and some sense of superior good. What often results is a delusional sense of what is entitled to those in privileged positions and it doesn’t take long before ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’. This is evident in the way politicians rort the system (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-29/michael-smith-wedding-barnaby-joyce-george-brandis-expenses/4987502), unionists use credit cards and bribes are offered by big business to gain advantage over others who are ethical in business. The Leighton Holdings corruption shows that nothing was learned from the AWB oil for wheat scandal . When such an ethic is normalized in a culture, lessons from history don’t matter, entitlement creates a hubris that believes it is immune from fault. How is this ethic demonstrated in safety? There are countless ways that some safety people enjoy the power of the WHS Act to wield submission over others. It seems there is nothing so juicy as inflicting a major non-conformance on an organisation for something petty. The best at this is the Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner (OFSC). The number of ridiculous non-conformances issued by the OFSC, justified by power and safety, are chronicled by many of the construction companies I know. One was recently given a major non-conformance for not having a data sheet for a toner cartridge!

Another more recent prominent ethic is ‘justification by volume’, something is deemed right because it is supported by volume and traffic. We see this in the Dumb Ways to Die campaign, the dehumanizing of anyone who commits suicide as ‘dumb’ justified by the number of hits on Youtube. Not only has this program been ineffective in outcomes (https://safetyrisk.net/dumb-ways-to-measure-effectiveness/) it has germinated a whole desensitization campaign to the plight of suicide, particularly youth suicide. The DWTD campaign has currently 60 million hits in 12 months on Youtube, Miley Cyrus nude has 184 million hits in 1 month. This shows the absurdity of this ethic, this simplistic ethic seems to think that something is ‘good’ regardless of human outcome. Youth suicide is such a great tragedy and ought not to be promoted or young people desensitized to its destructiveness. The idea that some safety people think this ad is ‘cute’ and ‘effective’ is alarming.

There are three critical ethics that should apply to the enactment of safety.

  1. When it comes to safety ‘the ethic of humanizing others’ should be paramount. One can have quite honourable motives such as not wishing anyone to be harmed, but this doesn’t justify the dehumanization of others in the process. Two wrongs don’t make something right. The idea that zero leads to tolerance, understanding and self determination is a nonsense, ‘absolutes corrupt absolutely’. Zero is not an ethic for safety. The priming of the ideology, the cynicism it generates, the incongruence it fosters and the skepticism driven by its absurd targets and discourse are all culturally destructive. For example, the current rate of fatalities on Victorian roads is higher than the 5 year average and yet the insulting and unethical bloody idiot campaign continues. How does a negative parading of insults create a positive culture? The Vision Zero Road Safety Campaign for Victorian roads looks more like a joke than something people can believe in. (http://www.monash.edu.au/miri/research/reports/papers/visionzero.html) Charged by simplistic binary opposition thinking, such a campaign and ethic denies the realities of competing goals and human fallibility.

clip_image0042. In safety one needs an ‘ethic of longsightedness’ and have some sense of the trajectory of values. For example, in the ACT where ACT Worksafe is on a blitz of fines and punitive blindsidedness they seem to think that people will also speak up about safety (http://www.worksafe.act.gov.au/page/view/3455)? This is the kind of simplistic stuff that comes about by short-sightedness and not understanding competing goals and ethical trajectories. The ethic of short-sightedness most often leads to naivety about long-term consequence, this was what Essendon might have learned when they lost their place in the finals. Short-sightedness doesn’t see the big picture and justifies injustice over competitors, for the sake of a flag.

  1. An approach to safety ethics ought to consider the ‘ethic of reciprocation’, that is, acting towards others as you yourself would like to be treated. This is why bullying is so harmful. It is also interesting that the psychological harm and mental unhealth generated by the over-powering of others and dehumanization of others in the workplace is not counted by the zero harm advocates? It seems if you can’t see the harm, there is no harm. The same ethic of lack of transparency governs the nonsense policy to not report boat arrivals in northern Australia. If we don’t hear about the boats we will think the government has stopped the boats. Secrets and a lack of transparency have no place in safety, the elevation of punishment will simply encourage underreporting and delusion by silence.

The ethic of reciprocation is concerned about oppression, victimization, bullying and intolerance, such may seem good for ‘other’ people but when we make a mistake we expect forgiveness, understanding and compassion.

The key to the effectiveness of an ethic in safety is the humanization of others and the building of relationships. It is strange that the vice of intolerance is advocated in the workplace but we would never want such a vice in our home relationships. The challenge for the safety community is to understand the impact of negative ethics and seek positive ethics in the promotion of care, safety and the management of risk.

  • 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)

  • You Can’t Believe in Zero and Learning at The Same Time - January 21, 2021
  • Poisoning the Professional Waterhole - January 21, 2021
  • Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook - January 20, 2021
  • The Seduction of Slogans in Safety - January 19, 2021
  • Measurement Anxiety in Safety - January 15, 2021
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)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Positive Safety Stuff, Robert Long, Safety Leadership, Simplistic Safety, Social Psychology of Risk, Zero Harm Tagged With: corruption, ethics, safety culture, Zero Harm

Reader Interactions

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

Primary Sidebar

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

Visit Count – Started Jan 2015

  • 21,316,682 Visitors

Never miss a post - Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address and join over 30,000 other discerning safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • Bernard Corden on You Can’t Believe in Zero and Learning at The Same Time
  • Jason Robertson on Are You a Safety Clown?
  • Rob Long on You Can’t Believe in Zero and Learning at The Same Time
  • Rob Long on Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook
  • Michael Dale on You Can’t Believe in Zero and Learning at The Same Time
  • Wynand on Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook
  • Wynand on Poisoning the Professional Waterhole
  • Rob Long on Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook
  • Rob Long on Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook
  • Bernard Corden on Sin-Eaters for Safety

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Featured Downloads

  • 2016AmericasSafestCompanies.pdf (1306 downloads)
  • Lessons-I-Have-Learnt.docx (1875 downloads)
  • Stretching At The Workstation (1744 downloads)
  • SAFETY-SLOGANS-LIST.doc (6595 downloads)
  • Guidance-FOR-the-beginning-OHS-professiona1.docx (20868 downloads)
  • Effective-Safety-Management-Systems.docx (4992 downloads)
  • Hazard-Reporting-sheet.xlsx (4681 downloads)
  • Coronavirus - Covid 19 Toolbox Talk (2701 downloads)
  • Workplace Checklist Covid-19 (6790 downloads)
  • How To Make Your Own Cloth Face Mask (187185 downloads)
  • Abdukadirov_UnintendedConsequences_v11.pdf (862 downloads)
  • Zero-to-HRO-15-March-2017 (1532 downloads)
  • Covid-19 Re-Entry Considerations (4372 downloads)
  • Active Living at Work (13768 downloads)
  • Contractor Risk Assessment Form (2204 downloads)

Recent Posts

  • You Can’t Believe in Zero and Learning at The Same Time
  • Poisoning the Professional Waterhole
  • Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook
  • The Seduction of Slogans in Safety
  • Certificate, Diploma and Masters Studies in SPoR
  • Measurement Anxiety in Safety
  • Are You a Safety Clown?
  • The Quantitative and Qualitative Divide in Safety
  • Balance in Risk and Safety
  • It’s Always About Paperwork

Footer

AUTHORS

  • Alan Quilley
    • Heinrich–Industrial Accident Prevention
    • The Problem With ZERO Goals and Results
  • Bernard Corden
    • AHH$ Covid$afe Chri$tma$ New$letter
    • Paradise by the dashboard light
  • 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
    • In search of plan B in workers’ recovery
    • What and how should we measure to support recovery from injury?
  • James Parkinson
    • To laugh or not to laugh
    • People and Safety
  • John Toomey
    • Who is Responsible for This?
    • Who Are Your People?
  • 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
    • It was the SIA until someone wanted to swing from the Chandelier
    • Common Sense is Remarkably Uncommon
  • Peter Ribbe
    • Is there “Common Sense” in safety?
    • Who wants to be a safety professional?
  • Phil LaDuke
    • Hey Idiots, You’re Worried About the Wrong Things
    • Misleading Indicators
  • Admin
    • Certificate, Diploma and Masters Studies in SPoR
    • Merry Covid Xmas–2020
  • Dr Rob Long
    • You Can’t Believe in Zero and Learning at The Same Time
    • Poisoning the Professional Waterhole
  • Rob Sams
    • I’m just not that into safety anymore
    • Social ‘Resiliencing’
  • Barry Spud
    • Barry Spud’s Hazard Control Tips
    • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
  • Sheri Suckling
    • How Can I Get the Boss to Listen?
  • 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?

FEATURED POSTS

I was just trying to Help

The Psychology of Leadership in Risk

iCue Diagnostic, What is Your Risk iCue?

Just Hangin’ Out…

Speaking a New Language in Safety

Risk as a ‘Leap of Faith’

Risk and Safety Matrices and the Psychology of Colour

Censorship and Taboos in Safety

Why Resilience Cannot be Engineered

The De-Ethicization of the Object in Safety

The Domino Delusion in Safety

The Fear of Freedom in Safety

How do we mourn?

Subjecting and Objecting About Risk

A Question of Ethics

Don’t mention the ‘V’ Word

Investigations and Truth Telling

The Banned Objects Index – A New Development in Safety Culture

Learning from people who we don’t agree with

I’ve got a feeling this isn’t right, but…..

More Posts from this Category

Paperwork

https://vimeo.com/162034157?loop=0

Due Diligence

https://vimeo.com/162493843?loop=0

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