Value of the Code of Conduct 143

After exploring the meaning of the term ethics we progressed to looking specifically at the Code of Conduct. There was a limited range of knowledge of the existing Code. Much of this knowledge seemed restricted to its existence rather than its content. Tony for example explained away his lack of knowledge of the Code by stating:

I haven’t had any needs to refer to our Codes of Conduct in the last twenty years that I have been working in the industry. (Tony, interview participant) Tony expressed this with some pride but did not expand further when asked why this was so. The implications being perhaps that Tony felt he intuitively knew how to practice and therefore never needed to refer to the Code. An alternative could be that he had never done anything wrong and therefore had no need for the Code seeing it as a disciplinary document rather than guidance. This could be analogous to a health and safety problem arising in practice that prompts the practitioner to refer to a particular piece of legislation only when there is fear that it has been breached. Had Tony admitted to never referring to any health and safety legislation in twenty years of practice his professional competence may be called into question. Whereas to admit to never referring to the professional Code of Conduct and guidance, does not appear to have the same implications on the level of competence. Tony, rather than see this as a gap in his professionalism, made this statement as a way of saying I am an ethical practitioner, I intuitively know how to act professionally and therefore do not need to refer to the Code. There may also be a rationale that by declaring this is to say I have never done anything wrong and therefore it is not relevant to me. When

pressed on this issue Tony did not expand further although when pressed on the value of professional bodies having a Code Tony did acknowledge its worth:

But in general I can see the value of having a Code of Conduct but I think it is something which, particularly for an industry which has some vocational element to it, which I think is…to varying degrees its individual but there is a significant vocation element to it. And I think a Code of Conduct helps structure that.(Tony, interview participant)

The vocational nature of the health and safety profession was clearly important here. The implied message being that the Code should represent practice, in other words it must be relevant to the real world perhaps. Tony went further to explain why he felt a Code of Conduct was necessary even though he hadn’t referred to it by saying:

…and I think a professional organisation with a Code of practice structure behind it is something which helps towards providing that credibility.(Tony, interview participant)

With the knowledge that IOSH has a Code of Conduct Tony was it would seem getting professional credibility vicariously without the need to know its contents. In defending this position Tony is implying that his Conduct has always been suitable for the environment he has worked in and it is therefore his experiential learning that underpins his perceived good Conduct and not the document provided by IOSH. Tony was educated to Diploma level, which at the time did not contain any requirement for professional ethics to be taught. The membership structure at the time also had no requirement built into it to require Tony to acknowledge the Code in any way. Both these deficiencies have now been resolved. Ethics is now included in the 2010 syllabus and following the award of the Royal Charter in 2005, members now must acknowledge the Code when being awarded Chartered membership. There is however a gap remaining for those who transferred to this category of membership that may explain Tony’s ignorance.

Bill was quite honest in his admission that he too had not referred to the Code in sometime. Only recently due to a project involving CPD did Bill feel the need to look

at it, knowing intuitively perhaps that competence and professional development was covered somewhere in the Code:

I’ll be telling lies if I haven’t read it recently, because obviously I’ve undertaken my own study. And I think Reg 4 or Code 4 is undertaken in CPD, so from that perspective yes, I have read it recently and the updated version. But I’ve got to be honest, probably before that, the last time I looked at it was oh, probably ten or fifteen years ago and I don’t even suspect, if the website was there, it would have been on the website. It was probably in my little book I got when I got my diploma. So I think I’d have to be frank and say I’ve only read it in the last six months because of what I’m doing, and not because of any other reason. So I’m not convinced maybe that’s right, but it’s probably like if you’re in an organisation, the only reason we’ve come across the safety policy is because we’re updating and reviewing it, it tends to just sit there in the background ticking over.(Bill, interview participant)

Bill makes an interesting analogy between the Code and the Health and Safety policy. Documents that are necessary to have but that are infrequently referred to unless something happens. This raises the question of what is the Code for. Is it a regulatory document only used to punish individuals when things go wrong or is it an educational document representing the professional ideal in terms of ethics and Conduct that provides a useful source of information? The current Code it would seem is not the latter. Although not everyone was ignorant of the Code, Laura explained what had prompted her to engage with the contents:

I read through the IOSH Code of Conduct several times when I set up in business, particularly because I say I comply with it, and I did read it at that time. But if you ask me now what does it say, I couldn’t quote it verbatim. But I think I have a good idea of what’s expected of me in terms of my behaviour, and I don’t think there’s anything… I hope there is nothing in there that I don’t comply with. So I think because the IOSH Code of Conduct, as I remember it, is quite general, it’s not very specific. (Laura, interview participant)

This reveals a clear motivation to engage with the Code that does not involve actual misconduct. There is an obvious business incentive to declare ones adherence to a Code of Conduct that in turn has, in this case, prompted Laura to review it. On reflection Laura recalls the Code to be quite general and not very memorable. When pressed, Laura was unable to articulate any particular Code although competence and integrity were mentioned.

The relationship of the Code to societal expectation was loosely discussed by some of the participants. Shane for example stated that:

I think that [Code of Conduct] it is a bit different because that’s rather than society saying what the morals should be, its more what a profession should stand for and how it’s seen, does that make sense?(Shane, interview participant)

This distinction between societal and that of professional expectations is interesting in that it implies that the professional has an obligation to declare its moral values to society. Shane did not go as far as putting professional morals above societal ones, although it clearly indicates that the professional image is an important advantage of having a Code. Tony was the only participant to discuss the Code as it related not only to him but also to followers.

I think the components are alright the way it came across was difficult to relate to what I am doing day to day and how I could use that as a means of helping to manage and develop the people who work with me.(Tony, interview participant)

Tony had concern over the guidance in the Code in addition to how the Code related to his management responsibilities. The components mentioned where not expanded on perhaps indicating that these were not well known.