Involving Moral and Ethical Principles in Safety Management Systems
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Problem Definition
3. Method
“ethic(s)(al), moral, safety, science, occupational, environmental, health, value, disengagement, norm, principle, risk, management, system” and with: “fairness, equity, precautionary, cautionary, industry”s.
4. Results
4.1. Literature Search Process Results
4.2. Ethics in Current Safety Management Practice
4.3. Moral and Ethical Principles in a Range of Situations in Society
4.4. Ethical Principles Important for Health and Safety
4.5. Ethical Concerns and Issues in Safety Management
4.6. Misconduct and Transgression Types
4.6.1. Abuse of Power
4.6.2. Wrong or Misleading Information
4.6.3. Reducing Moral Awareness
4.6.4. Workers Risk Exposure
4.6.5. Fraudulent Practices
4.7. Countermeasures
5. Discussion
5.1. Effect of Misconduct and Transgression on Safety and Health
5.2. Safety versus Security Domain
5.3. Safety Management versus General Management Domain
5.4. Independent Governance
6. Conclusions and Recommendations
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Ethical Principles in Society | International Institutions Proposed Ethical Principles | Emerging Corporate Ethical Conduct Standard Principles |
---|---|---|
Responsibility | No corruption | 1. Fiduciary principle |
Take responsibility for corrective action on unsafety, misconduct and transgression. | Avoid illegal activities and corruption. Respect laws, rules, conventions and codes of conduct. | Act to prohibit unethical activities. |
Reparation | 2. Property principle | |
Undo damage done to others. | Respect intellectual and physical property, no theft, no illegal waste. | |
Integrity/Reciprocity, Golden rule | 3. Reliability principle | |
Treat others as you like to be treated, honesty, keep promises (fidelity), loyalty, commitment. | Be trustworthy, keep promises, abide by contracts. | |
The common good | X | |
Common good is preferable over the good for an individual or organization. | ||
Cautionary principle | Criteria for risk acceptance | X |
Use caution or avoid the action when extreme consequences are involved. | Use methods and criteria for risk analysis and acceptance decision making. | |
Precautionary principle | Respect the environment | X (see 7.) |
If the effect of an action can be dangerous and uncertain, take preventive measures, or do not do the action. | Precautionary approach of environment, responsibility for environment, use environmentally friendly technology. | |
Transparency principle | Transparency | 4. Transparency principle |
Provide good information, e.g., about risks. | Transparent risk communication. | Respect for truth, accurate information, display openness. |
Autonomy | X | |
Protect people’s autonomy and decisions, (risk-) informed consent. | ||
Value for human life | 5. Dignity principle | |
Protecting human lives is more important than goods. An action should be based on caring for the people and their relationships. | Respect for people, health, safety, rights and privacy. | |
Do no harm/Non-maleficence/Value for human life/Non-injury | Protection of human rights | X (see 5. and 6.) |
Do no harm. Protect people’s health and safety, nature and the environment. | Protection of human rights, non-complicity in abuse, free association, no forced labour, no child labour, no discrimination. | |
Justice (as fairness) principle/Rights principle | X (see 5. and 6.) | |
Equal people should be treated equally, unequal people should be treated unequally in proportion to their inequality. An action may be performed only when having the moral right to do so, while not infringing the rights of others. | ||
Fairness principle/Distributive justice | 6. Fairness principle | |
The benefit and the burden as the effects of an action should be fairly distributed. | Fair distribution of rewards and burdens, equal pay for equal work, no discrimination. | |
Equity principle | Equity | X |
An activity must be beneficial to all. | An activity must be beneficial to all. | |
Beneficence | Respect for societal development | 7. Citizenship principle |
Help to improve the situation of others, set societal goals or assume societal responsibility or duty. Minimizing harm, seek benefits, balancing them against risks and costs. | Contribute to economic and social development, support responsible globalization. | Respect for and contribution to society and environment. Corporate social responsibility (CSR). |
Excellence principle/Self-improvement | Excellence principle | X |
Act on possibilities to improve. | Perform beyond the requirements by law, improve and build trust. | Perform beyond the requirements by law [61]. |
Virtue principle | X (see 7.) | |
An action should be based on virtues (e.g., respect for human life, privacy, dignity, freedom, fairness, truth, reciprocity, safety, security, common good, altruism, generosity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom) rather than on vices (e.g., violence, greed, slander, lust, exploitation, intolerance, selfishness). | ||
Gratitude | Respect stakeholders | 8. Responsiveness principle |
When appropriate show gratitude. | Stakeholders are to be respected beyond shareholders. | Respond to stakeholder concerns Respect stakeholders [61]. |
Risk Control Measures Description | References |
---|---|
1-ETHICAL MANAGEMENT POLICY | |
Include ethics in the company safety policy. | [98] |
Ensure full commitment to safety and to ethical principles throughout the organization. | [98] |
Embrace philanthropy; adopt the pyramid of corporate social responsibility (CSR). | [22,98,99] |
Embrace transparency, e.g., choose for honesty and trust about risks. | [22,46,59,76,100] |
Do no harm; protect health and safety, show performance w.r.t. people, planet and profit. | [100,101] |
Do things right the first time and do the right things. | [100] |
Organize a support system to facilitate ethics management and use ethical policies, codes of conduct, rituals, stories, language, rewards, climate and culture. Evaluate these regularly. | [19,84,98] |
Include ethics in human resource management and the selection process. | [22,84] |
2-ETHICAL LEADERSHIP | |
Embrace the values of business ethics. | [98] |
Place a high value on safety and aim for values-based safety leadership. | [98,102,103,104] |
Lead by example, be a role model, inspirator. | [22,104] |
Lead in a human way: be accessible, interested in employees, honest. See, hear and inform employees. | [22] |
3-ETHICAL RISK ASSESSMENT | |
Stimulate risk appetite: systematically investigate unknown or intangible risk | [83] |
Avoid the use of false information, e.g., fabricated data, incorrect labelling, poor statistics, false descriptions, biased conclusions, flawed administrative methods. | [63,66,82,83] |
4-ETHICAL CLIMATE | |
Educate everyone on how to do everyday business in a moral, ethical and safe way. | [50,75,77,84,105] |
Bring personal, professional and organizational ethics in line, using ethical criteria (egoism, benevolence, principle) and levels of analysis (individual, local, cosmopolitan). | [26,97,106,107] |
Stimulate a rules/principled and care/wellbeing cantered local ethical climate. | [97,108,109] |
Avoid utilitarianism and psychological safety within teams. | [93] |
5-ETHICAL DECISION MAKING | |
Implement an ethical decision-making process | [94] |
Provide guidance about values, ethical principles, handling ethical dilemmas, vulnerability for uncertainties and about imposing risk on people, short/long term. | [22,45,59,71,76] |
Distinguish between whether the knowledge is insufficient to predict the effect of an action and whether the outcome is immoral or goes against social norms. | [62] |
Make use of well proven existing methods, e.g., cost-benefit analysis (CBA), minimum safety criterion, ALARP, individual risk limits. | [62,110] |
Apply ethical principles in decision making: -Cautionary principle: if an action has the potential of extreme danger or damage, be cautious or avoid the action; -Precautionary principle: if an action can be dangerous and uncertain take precautionary measures or do not do the action; -Equity principle: An activity must be beneficial to all; -Fairness principle: Benefits and burden must be fairly distributed. | [22,25,59,62] |
6-ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR | |
Distinguish between safety-compliance and safety participation behaviours. | [70] |
Stimulate employees to behave in an ethical way. Explain what is unethical. Stimulate both excellent and ethical work performance. Introduce goals, responsibilities, rewards and behavioural norms for individuals and teams. | [22] |
Avoid conflicts of interest, unsafe products and dishonest advertisements. | [22] |
Respect for stakeholders, e.g., customers, suppliers, shareholders, local community, shared resources, nature and the environment. | [22] |
Take responsibility for corrective action on misconduct and transgression, e.g., self-dealing, theft, disrespect for law, stealing intellectual property, improper handling of waste, breaking promises, breach of contract, misleading information, privacy intrusion, disrespect dignity, neglect health and safety, violate human rights, discrimination, improper political activity, bribery, the doctrine of double effect. | [22,96] |
Assess, measure and monitor the ethical aspect of behaviour. | [87,106] |
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Lindhout, P.; Reniers, G. Involving Moral and Ethical Principles in Safety Management Systems. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 8511. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168511
Lindhout P, Reniers G. Involving Moral and Ethical Principles in Safety Management Systems. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(16):8511. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168511
Chicago/Turabian StyleLindhout, Paul, and Genserik Reniers. 2021. "Involving Moral and Ethical Principles in Safety Management Systems" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 16: 8511. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168511
APA StyleLindhout, P., & Reniers, G. (2021). Involving Moral and Ethical Principles in Safety Management Systems. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(16), 8511. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168511