Joint Industrial Hygiene Ethics Education Committee
The Ethics Education Committee is simply that--an educational resource. The group is not an enforcement group or resolution board, but serves the membership by bringing to its attention ethical dilemmas facing the IH, and can serve as a sounding board for challenges facing the professional. In all cases, we are guided by the canon of ethics.
For more information about the Ethics Committee, select a topic from the following list:
Ethics Q&A
Ethics Dilemmas
Dilemma #1 - The Industrial Hygiene Report (July 2008)
Ethics Resolution Worksheet
In its educational workshops, PDCs and presentations, JIHEEC uses a process for resolving ethical dilemmas that was developed from materials published by Rushworth Kidder, Founder and President of the Institute for Global Ethics. The process is described in his book titled, “How Good People Make Tough Choices." If you would like to work through an dilemma using this approach, please read the summary of the Kidder approach for resolving ethical dilemmas and download the worksheet.
Completing the worksheet will assist you identify important issues in this case and clarifying your values. But solving ethical dilemmas well takes practice. It is highly recommended that you attend an ethical fitness workshop or PDC to learn from experienced professions how to apply this technique and gain experience.
If you would like to try working through a dilemma with the worksheet, read dilemma #1 “The Industrial Hygiene Report” and complete the worksheet. After completing the worksheet you can listen to a podcast of JIHEEC members reviewing their worksheets and discussing the case at the following link.
Upcoming Presentations and Workshops
The next ethics workshop will be held at the PCIH on Monday, November 10, 2008 and will be lead by Glenn Barbi and Nancy Orr. A RoundTable and additional events are being planned for the AIHCE in Toronto.
Ethical Fitness: Choosing Between Right vs. Right
Moderators: Glenn J. Barbi, CIH, and Nancy Orr, CIH, CSP, Becton Dickinson & Co., Franklin Lakes, NJ
On completion, the participant will be able to:
- Develop increased awareness of ethical issues and how they arise.
- Apply tools and skills to analyze ethical dilemmas and make higher quality ethical decisions concerning consultant/client relationships.
- Identify and resolve potential conflict of interest situations.
- Comprehend the nature of personal values and their role in guiding conduct.
Participants will acquire the essential skills necessary to make higher quality ethical decisions. This process begins by developing an awareness of ethical issues and how they arise. The role of personal values and their application to decision making is examined. Participants will use analytical techniques to explore right vs. wrong situations as distinct from right vs. right dilemmas where values conflict. We will explore how to resolve situations where truth conflicts with loyalty, justice with mercy, short-term goals with long-term goals, and self-interest with community interest. Finally, case studies allow participants to apply several resolution approaches to their own dilemmas in search of “the higher right.”
References
The following books written by Rushworth Kidder, Founder and President of the Institute for Global Ethics, are highly recommended by the Joint Industrial Hygiene Ethics Education Committee.
Please send comments about this material to Tom Ouimet, committee webmaster.