Workplace Safety CulturePsychology in the Workplace

When employer and employee expectations conflict…

risk One of the more difficult situations in which to make an ethical decision is when more than one person is potentially impacted by your action and their expectations of how you should proceed are in conflict.

As an occupational health and safety professional, clients and employers often have very different views of what is an “appropriate” for employees or the public to a risk assessment you perform. An example of when this difference in view can arise is when your work involves the assessment of health risk associated with a workplace exposure.

So how do you decide whose expectations you should meet?

For an interesting take on this question, check out Mike Jayjock’s blog post at http://jayjock-associates.blogspot.com/2015/01/acceptable-risk-personal-gut-check.html.

Thea Dunmire has been in the environmental and OH&S field for a long time. She started her first project in 1978 while at the University of Iowa when she developed a system to keep track of laboratory chemicals from initial purchase to final disposal. In the 1980s she did EHS audits of Bristol Myers facilities around the world, went to law school, and then went to work for the U.S. EPA, Region 5 in Chicago. At EPA she was heavily involved in monitoring the clean up at Superfund sites. For more information about her company and services, visit ENLAR Compliance Services, Inc. http://enlar.com. Check out Thea’s blog postings at ohsas18001expert.com. She has kindly granted us permission to post this article, which appears on her blog site. ENLAR Compliance Service, Inc.

ENLAR Compliance Services, Inc. specializes in developing and offering resources and coaching to help organizations establish and maintain effective environmental and OH&S management systems. For more details about ENLAR's services, go to www.enlar.com.