Professional Ethics

Professional Ethics For the Health and Safety Professional June 2004 ASSE Conference Las Vegas

Dr. Peter Strahlendorf B.Sc., LL.B., LL.M., S.J.D., B.E.S., CRSP Associate Professor School of Occupational and Public Health Ryerson University Toronto, Canada

Pick One • Ethics cannot be taught. You are able to sense what is right, good and just, and are motivated to act – or you are not. 2. While people differ in their abilities, most people can improve their ethical decision-making through education and practice.

A Personal Challenge to the Science-Oriented • Do we think differently when thinking scientifically than when thinking ethically? • Can you find scientific answers to the questions “what is reasonable?”, or “what is fair”? • This is part of the “art” of OHS practice.

Professional Ethics • What is a “profession”? • What is “ethics”? • What is “professional ethics”? • Ethical theories • Thinking about professional ethics • Professional values • Codes of Ethics

Do you agree? • It is always wrong to intentionally take an innocent life?

Do you agree? • The right course of action is to weigh the consequences of action and choose the action that leads to the greatest good for the greatest number?

Two Valid Moral Positions • The first is “Kantianism” • Kant: Right or wrong regardless of consequences • The second is “Utilitarianism” • Utilitarianism: Right or wrong depending on consequences • Most people agree with both positions

Dilemma • The hijacked plane with 200 people is approaching a building with 50,000 people • Vote! Will you shoot down the plane?

Dilemma • You cannot subscribe to both principles in the case. • A true moral dilemma • Which position has the greatest weight in the circumstances?

Orientation Aim to show several different ways to think through a problem in professional ethics, rather than merely describe what professionals say are their problems (sociology of ethics).

“Profession” “Ethics” “Professional Ethics”

Profession • All professions are occupations, but not all occupations are professions • Can take a broad or narrow view of what is a “profession” • A “self-regulated occupational group capable of legally prohibiting others (including incompetent or unethical members) from practising” is a narrow view

Based Primarily on : “Morality and the Professional Life” Cynthia A. Brincat Victoria S. Wike Prentice Hall, 2000 ISBN 0-13-915729-8

Profession 1. Group identity 2. Shared education, training -- requirements for admission 3. Special uncommon knowledge 4. Knowledge used in the service of others… positive social need 5. Involves individual judgment, (some) autonomy in decisions 6. Adherence to certain values 7. Penalties for substandard performance

Profession • Matter of degree … there are many “emerging professions”. • Obstacle in the way of the OHS professional is the diverse nature of practice with competing co-professionals.

Profession You are not a professional until you are a member of a group of colleagues who have articulated a set of standards and values and can enforce them, at the very least, by exclusion from the group.

“Professionalism” 1. Skill, competency in work 2. Relational element – work will be beneficial to others • Work itself doesn’t have moral status • Execution of work has moral status

Recognizing when We’re in the Realm of Ethics Watch the language: • Right and wrong -- Actions • Good and bad -- Motives, methods, goals

Professional Ethics • Purpose… Helps professional decide when faced with a problem that raises a moral issue • Complexity … Can be many people, with many issues involved … may be involved history to the issues … may be an issue WHO decides, not just WHAT decided.

Ethics and Morality • Morality – making choices with reasons • Ethics – the study of HOW the choices are made, ie “ethics is the study of morality” • Often use “ethics” and “morality” interchangeably

General vs Professional • General Ethics – individual as member of community, broader range of issues, “top down” principles • Professional Ethics – moral expectations specific to the occupational group, tend to focus on concrete “bottom up” cases

Morality and Ethics • Professional Morality – what we do in our occupational lives • Professional Ethics – the study of what we do in our professional lives

Ethics and Law • Law – the authority is external • Ethics – the authority is internal • Much of law, but not all, is based in morality • Sometimes law is unethical • Much of what is ethical is unaddressed by legal rules

Professional Ethics and Law • There is a moral duty to obey the law (with some caveats) • Professional ethics covers more issues than the law • One can be unethical without behaving illegally • Rare – ethically must resist the law

Professional Ethics and Law Be very careful not to embark in an exercise in ethical analysis when there is a clear legal rule in the situation that trumps the entire process of ethical analysis.

Professional Ethics and Law Be very careful not to assume that there is a legal rule for every situation. Often the gaps between legal rules require one to switch to an ethical analysis.

Ethics • Descriptive ethics – “What IS” • Prescriptive ethics – “What OUGHT to be” We do not seek to study professional ethics as a sociologist would, but to assist with choices about what one ought to do.

Descriptive Ethics 2002 British study by Burgess and Mullen: 77% of hygienists had witnessed ethical misconduct by colleagues within last 5 years.

Descriptive Ethics Burgess and Mullen study. Most common cases: • Plagiarism • Confidentiality of data • Faked data • Criticizing colleagues for gain • Holding back, disguising data • Destruction of data • Not reporting incident deliberately

Descriptive Ethics Patricia Logan 2001, USA. Reported reasons for misbehavior, hygienists: • Economic pressure • Transition from employee to consultant results in compromises • Working in foreign countries • Lack of legal standards • Working on contingency basis • Decrease in job security

Descriptive to Prescriptive Two very different ways of reasoning. Descriptive, or scientific, studies of professional ethics help us identify issues that need to be included in Code of Ethics and in educational programs. Gives us our “case studies”.

Prescriptive Ethics • “What OUGHT to be” • The words used are different… good-bad, right-wrong, just-unjust • Thought processes use values, goods, virtues, rules, ethical theories, moral reasons, moral explanations, and moral decisions.

Why the Interest in Professional Ethics? • As occupations become more specialized, the ethical issues become more specialized • Professional societies have increased efforts to establish ethical codes to guide members • Increasing public scrutiny, lack of traditional deference • Regulatory oversight, public protection

Moral Reasoning

Machinery of Prescriptive Ethics • Rules – e.g. “always tell the truth” • Values – e.g. Integrity The two are intimately related.

Prescriptive Ethics • Judgments should be “universalizable” or “generalizable” Judgments should apply to like cases and not be case-specific or subjective “If it applies to me now, it should apply to anyone else in a similar position.”

Moral Relativism • Ethical values are relative to time, place and culture • Moral beliefs are subjective and arbitrary • “It’s all a matter of personal opinion” • Decisions shift easily

Moral Absolutism • Ethical values completely objective • Unchangeable, universal, no exceptions • Comparatively inflexible • Neither position tenable.

Objectivity Codes of ethics require objectivity, which means that there are principles and values outside of the individual that the members of the community share and that individuals will be measured against.

Objectivity “Thinking reasonably is thinking morally.” Samuel Johnson

Reasonable Person -- Peer What would the reasonable peer do in the circumstances? Reasonable person: mature, sane, sober, well-informed, well-intentioned, open-minded, calm, detached but empathetic … Reasonable peer – add expertise.

Moral Decisions Reasons explain a decision: • Reason + Reason +… = Decision • Explanation… System of reasons

A Moral Reason • Is general, not particular or contingent • reason, not instinct or external authority • not selfishness • moral value, not economic, legal, social value

Moral Explanation • At least one of the reasons justifying a decision is a moral reason. • This identifies, but does not evaluate a moral explanation.

Dilemma • Explanation 1 Reason + Reason + …  Decision 1 • Explanation 2 Reason + Reason + …  Decision 2 • May or may not be a MORAL dilemma

Non-Moral Dilemma 1. I should work late and finish the work I promised I’d finish. 2. I should leave and go to a party because I like parties and want to enjoy myself. 1. = universalizable, non-selfish, moral value (integrity, responsibility, promises…) 2. = non-moral reasons and decision.

Moral Dilemma • Moral Explanation 1 Moral reason + reason +… = Decision 1 • Moral Explanation 2 Moral reason + reason + … = Decision 2

Resolution of Dilemmas • Some dilemmas are resolved because they are not moral dilemmas. • Some MORAL dilemmas can be resolved through a creative third alternative that satisfies both moral outcomes. • Or, possible to sequentially act on each one. • Or, evaluation will show which is strongest moral explanation and decision.

STRONG relevant to decision concern with person(s) most affected by decision focussed on values of central importance WEAK tends to be irrelevant not concerned with person(s) most affected by decision emphasizes peripheral values Evaluate Moral Reasons

Professional Ethics