What's Your Opinion: Has an employer ever asked you to do something that violated your code of ethics as a safety professional?

A previous employer once edited my field notes in which I quoted local representatives' term for what a particular structure had been used for. This might be involved in litigation and I objected to using white-out on field notes and got the change reversed.

In some countries outside USA this is very common and unfortunately when you say no, there is a huge probability that someboby else will say yes in order "to catch" the business..

Asked to perform a safety assessment without actually traveling to the site and inspecting it. I refused and they ended up sending it to a security guard at the site to complete. I went ballistic but it fell on deaf ears

My team is currently on travel restrictions but I was asked to perform a safety audit for a site I have never been. It was for a corporate audit, but I still refused. The site was 1300 miles away and I have yet been allowed to travel

My previous employer, shortly after I had started working for them, had announced they were moving to a new operational model; and there were concerns amongst staff that the new model was still going to be safe. I was instructed to find enough evidence to support the statement that the new model was as safe as the previous operational design and not any less. I did the research and ended up half convinced, myself, that the organization was not endangering their employees any more with the new model. This request came again from the same executives a couple years later for a similar cost-savings maneuver but an entirely different issue. I refused and was replaced by a consultant.

I was asked "Not to document" identified hazards to allow more time for corrections. Regardless of the fact that if something actually happened in the meantime, that could indicate a willful act by a regulator, the urgency shall and will not be softened. Identified hazards should be documented.

No my Employer has never asked me to violate any code of ethics during the/my normal work operations

My previous employer asked for input on a key safety topic and was given the uncomfortable truth. I felt ethically obligated to tell them what I knew. I was told to never address safety issues again without going through my supervisor.They spent the next 6 months trying to develop a case to fire me. When that failed they sent their puppet to fire me anyway. I learned quickly that ethics was not their strong suit. Just because you speak the truth doesn't mean you won't pay the price. The definition of ethics changes with companies.

I had been asked to re-do an accident investigation since the boss did not agree with the board's results. I reminded him that we report this up the food chain and if he orders another investigation to gain different results, he jeopardizes his position and may be looking for another job afterwards. He found our investigation was ample and decided to move on to bigger and better things.

As a career safety professional, I think I have been exposed to my fair share of debauchery. Having worked for some large organizations, I have been asked, and told to do anything from fudging OSHA 300 logs (improve our numbers) in order to insure contracts stay in good standing, to looking the other way when known systemic failures caused a worker fatality. I have had to resigned from a few well paid positions as I would not compromise my professional ethics. Unfortunately in too many instances, boardroom decisions are based on "what is the risk of getting caught?" Versus, what is the ethically responsible thing to do.

Yes it happens more often than safety professionals care to admit. My personal experience was that a former employee was suing the company for wrongful termination, (worker claimed to have a work place accident that he was using personal time to recoup from) I reported a late injury and submitted paperwork to workcomp and the next thing I knew I had a new safety coordinator who was now attending all my management meetings, client kick off's, site inspections etc... its probably just a matter of time until my projects are wrapped up and I am down the road. They can listen to the new safety coordinator giggle through all their meetings for all I care...

My employer is currently doing the same to me, trying to build a case to get rid of me. most times I can look past it and get on with my work and continue to perform to the best of my abilities, but some days are just to dang difficult as it is blatant what they are doing and the entire company sees it...

That is the norm in our organization. If someone gets hurt they take liberties with the OSHA log just to make the numbers look good.

It's of course more subtle than a simple yes/no. First they play on your pride ("I trust with you they can do it"), then on the benefits ("this is so much faster, cheaper"), then on tradition ("everybody does it and we never had an accident")....

I have known safety professionals who were but the people I work for has always wanted the best. That's why I'm still with them for 23 years.

It's a way of life here. Safety is a great word but a lousy thing to have to practice. They don't comprehend you violating your ethics because when it comes to safety they have none.

I provided the necessary information, OSHA and EPA requirements as requested with my recommendations....and they wanted to continue with their own agenda. In the end, they followed my recommendations.

My previous boss disagreed with my classification of a Class 2 injury & said it needed to be changed to a Class 4 case since the employee took vacation days after being injured. When I stood firm, he went behind my back & asked his peers if they concurred with the injury classification. A co-worker (who was accidentally copied on his e-mail) let me know about the devious behavior. I confronted the boss & reminded him that as the highest ranking officer who signs the OSHA log, he could face serious penalties for falsifying data. He then tried to back track & said he was just trying to make sure there weren't other interpretations since the company's injury record was dismal & was going to negatively impact our ability to retain customers.

My manager wanted me to not report injuries on the OSHA 300 log & to our corporate safety team. I refused and am now working through my severance period.

They have asked but I have never done it. When I explained why I would not do it, they agreed.

No, I've never been asked to do something I disagreed with, but management consistently ignores my recommendations. Employees get hurt, equipment gets damaged, and they keep doing things the way they've always been done because it's "too expensive" or "too time consuming" to change.

At a previous employer, we were a contractor to a major US chemical company. I saw how "SHE professionals" there engaged in wholesale recordkeeping fraud, incident investigation coverups, and overall mismanagement. Those who participated in fraud got promotions and bonuses, and those who reported honestly were targeted as low performing. As a contractor, they would make absurd classifications for injuries up to avoid reporting them for what they were. The thing is, with high hazard work, you can't fake it for very long, so when you have a bunch of fatalities and wake up on the OSHA severe violator list, you can't cover that up!

We’d like your opinion. Have you taken one? How have you taken it and did you ever hear back from the company that requested that you did submit to one? Let ‘er rip, I am curious… Send me an email!