Navigating Ethical Pressures: Challenges Safety Professionals Face

A safety professional commented on LinkedIn that there needed to be more “real talk about ethical pressures.” It is a very thought-provoking comment and made me think about the challenges that safety professionals have shared in my TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Courses over the years.

So, let’s have some “real talk”! As a safety professional, you protect the workers and ensure the company’s compliance. The organizational and/or legal needs plus the health of workers bring up dilemmas that invite ethics to enter the scene. Acknowledging these pressures and coping with them are essential parts of the integrity and trustworthiness your job.

5 Common Ethical Pressures Safety Professionals Face

Understanding the pressures is the first step in finding ways to relieve them. Following are a few you may recognize.

1. The Tug-of-War Between Safety and Productivity. The number one ethical challenge I hear is balancing the need to keep things going with the need to maintain a safe worksite. Pressure to meet tight deadlines, reduce costs, or increase efficiency may lead the management to bend the safety rules. You may find yourself in situations where you have to fight for safety measures that would delay projects or incur additional costs.

2. Circle of Truth and Reporting. You may encounter pressure from the top management to manipulate the reality of the situation by reporting fewer incidents than what took place or to adjust the figures on the safety report so that you could a) escape the notice of the authorities, b) protect the organization’s reputation, or c) meet safety performance goals. Loyalty to the organization and the obligation to give a truthful report is a combination that can make the relationship difficult and stressful.

3. Interests Clashing. You may also encounter conflicts of interest with their recommendations that go against company priorities. While, for example, buying new safety equipment or having safety training may be needed, the issue here is that the budget limits or the financial priorities of the organization are at stake. In such situations, the tension of advocating for the right measures often fall on safety professionals while they also have to deal with the higher-ups.

4. Worker Trust vs. Employer Loyalty. Safety professionals wear many hats that are different from each other, workers and management. This sometimes ends up being a source of ethical issues. Employees might share with you some dangerous things going on in the workplace, hoping you are going to keep their secrets, while management wants them to tell what they see. The constant balancing of the two situations has put many safety professionals into tricky positions.

5. Compliance Issues. Safety professionals must frequently call for more stringent compliance with the codes even when it appears to management that it is the opposite of what they want. When, for example, the management suggests that you might want to avoid filing an injury record to protect the organization’s unblemished safety record, it is time to maintain high ethical standards while tactfully reframing the whole matter into an improvement opportunity. How do you do that? By emphasizing a message like this, “I understand it’s important to maintain the efforts we all have been putting into making an unblemished record. But I think the way we act towards this situation is the most important factor to demonstrate our commitment to being honest and transparent. Rather than just ignore it, we can flip it around and use it as a learning opportunity to get to the root cause and strengthen the work system going ahead. I trust we can handle this in a way that will be in line with our ethics and that we could then build further trust within the company.”

How Safety Professionals Can Address Ethical Dilemmas

In dealing with ethical mistakes on the job, transparency, professionalism, and integrity are the keys. Whether it is caused by oversight, misunderstanding or it was a deliberate act, the response can have a large impact on trust, integrity, and the culture of the organization as a whole.

Ethical breaches can affect safety, morale, and the delivery of services like meeting legal standards, thus addressing them is very necessary and should be dealt with properly and at once. The aim is not only to correct the mistake but also to create a system where such issues are less likely to occur.

By tackling ethical missteps with transparency, empathy, and a problem-solving focus, organizations can turn challenges into opportunities for growth and firm their commitment to doing right.

Here are five ways to address ethical dilemmas.

1. Create an ethical code.

Companies should establish a personal and professional ethical code that prioritizes integrity and worker safety above all else. Familiarity with industry standards, such as the BCSP Code of Ethics or similar guidelines, provides a foundation for ethical decision-making.

2. Support with open communication.

Creating open communication with employees and management will help resolve conflicts and also reduce ethical pressures. By building trust and collaboration you can find solutions that satisfy both safety requirements and organizational objectives.

3. Document and raise concerns up the line.

Documenting the details is essential if one faces demands or behavior that are unethical. Logging the unsafe practices, violations, or disagreements with the management are the key to holding the people involved responsible. And if it comes to that, one has to resort to the right way, like going to the legal board or any regulatory body to raise the complaint and so protect the workers while upholding safety.

4. Find support.

Don’t try to tackle it by yourself. Ethical dilemmas can feel isolating, but connecting with peers or professional organizations can provide valuable guidance. Sharing experiences and seeking advice from others who have faced similar challenges can offer clarity and confidence in navigating complex situations.

5. Educate and Advocate

Early action and advocacy through education may lessen ethical conflicts by creating a deeper understanding of the importance of safety. Explaining the long-term benefits that strong safety procedures can achieve, such as reduced injuries, lower turnover, and higher productivity can help realign organizational objectives with safety goals.

Prioritize Doing What’s Right

Dealing with ethical pressures is part of being a safety professional. Sticking to the principles of honesty, transparency, and no deviance from the worker’s well-being requires among others, grit and moral courage. By dealing with these pressures thoughtfully and ahead of time, you are not only saving workers’ lives but also keeping the reputation of their profession intact and also, contributing to a safety culture that is beneficial to all.

In a world where ethical dilemmas are unavoidable, the true test of a safety professional lies in their ability to prioritize doing what’s right—even when it’s not the easiest path.

Learn More

You’re not alone in your challenges! I invite you to join us at the Global TapRooT® Summit. This conference brings professionals from around the world, across industries who have the same questions as you about how to improve performance. Networking provides opportunities to share best practices, lessons learned, and stay informed about emerging trends, technologies, and regulatory changes.

One of my favorite things is that the Summit also fosters a sense of community and collaboration, enabling all of us, no matter our job title, to build relationships that can offer support, mentorship, and expertise when tackling complex problems. By broadening your networks, you position yourself to implement more robust, adaptable safety strategies that benefit your company and advance the profession as a whole.