Speaker: Keith Govias, Principal Consultant, Workplace Risk, Gallagher
Ethics in safety
This was such an interesting presentation that challenged us to look at the broader scope of our profession. In the words of Keith Govias, OHS professionals are moral change agents, and an ethical charter is a core element to their identity.
Discussions on ethics can be quite theoretical, but Keith put a very practical slant on it. While he began by explaining some complex theories, he did it in such a way that they could be understood and applied. Each of the 5 theories produces a different way of approaching ethics in business, such as the most common, which is a cost-benefit analysis. Keith showed us how to look beyond this.
One of the most interesting parts for me was when he discussed how to apply an ethical framework to incident investigation, to create a just culture that doesn't focus on worker error.
Another fascinating topic was the discussion of ethics versus following the law, and how mandatory vaccination policies pose an ethical conundrum.
Keith also discussed a number of valuable free resources available, such as ethical counsellors, the Body of Knowledge chapter on ethics that you can access here, and of course, networks such as your own Central Safety Group.
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