Moral harm cannot be measured but its injury is felt.

Any environment or condition of work that pitches a person’s moral value against a vice, is cause for moral injury. For example, if my organisation adopt the slogan of ‘blame fixes nothing’ and I see an injustice performed on a person that demonises or destroys them, I am left in a moral dilemma. If I go against the company policy of ‘blame fixes nothing’ and seek justice for the victim, I will encounter a moral conflict.

Moral dilemmas are beginner work for anyone who studies ethics. At the foundation of moral dilemmas is the problem of power and how it is exercised. In moral dilemmas there is usually conflict between undisclosed values, undisclosed principles and moral absolutes hidden in slogans and memes.

The work of slogans and memes is constant in the world of marketing, propaganda, indoctrination and advertising.

And some of these memes and slogans are astoundingly successful.

If I was to say ‘Just do it’ most would already know what product that was being promoted. Similarly, the semiotics of logos anchored to products does the same work.

Both operate on the human unconscious. Tier one companies that spend extraordinary money on advertising and marketing, know that their logo, slogans and messaging do not target conscious decision making, the target is the Unconscious. The aim to get consumers/people to buy products unconsciously, without thinking. More so, if such purchasing can become habit, even better.

The trouble is, most moral harm is delivered in the name of helping and care. Who is going to be attracted to marketing that state, ‘this could harm you?’ Most often, the marketing is aimed to promote pleasure and satisfaction whilst at the same time hiding harm. The current debate in Australia about the harm of gambling is a classic example (https://www.agr.org.au/preventgamblingharmcampaign).

At the foundation of moral harm are vested interests that compete with moral harm for profit. Powerful lobby groups seek to influence government by distorting messaging, promoting doubt and warping moral meaning.

The beginning of thinking critically in any work is to follow the money. Who profits from this advertising, sloganeering and marketing?

How often is this question asked in safety?

We see values and principles in safety disguised in slogan-based discourse.  Safety slogans like ‘all accidents are preventable’, blame fixes nothing’ or ‘safety is a choice you make’ all disguise vices that are hidden. Under the slogan ‘safety is a choice you make’ for example, if you do something unsafe, it must be your choice and so therefore, in the best interests of the workplace, you must be sacked. After all, all accidents are preventable and you didn’t prevent the accident. The vice hidden in the slogan is anchored to the myth of free choice and simplicity. The same simplicity is anchored to the swiss-cheese or Jenga blocks (https://safetyrisk.net/the-jenga-blocks-are-swiss-cheese/). The only trouble is, life is not like Jenga blocks or swiss-cheese.

Ina. similar way, moral harm is often hidden by simplistic ideas of causation and silent messaging hidden in semiotics. And, because moral harm is unmeasureable and unseeable, it is easy to just focus on counting injury rates and band-aids missing from the first aid kit. Physical injury is beginner stuff, understanding moral harm requires considerable experience and expertise in Ethics.

Moral harm (https://safetyrisk.net/how-can-safety-cause-moral-injury-and-harm/) shares similar concerns as psychosocial harm and, requires very different approaches in thinking to traditional safety.

As much as Safety loves the Hierarchy of Control, such a tool is useless if applied to psychosocial or moral harm. It’s like taking a hammer to fix a loose screw.

If you have a moral problem or a psychosocial problem, you need methods that suit the problem. This is why SPoR has created different methods to tackle the challenges of psychosocial and moral harm. These methods are practical, positive and teachable in the workplace.

You can start by accessing our free book on Ethics (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/the-ethics-of-risk/) or watching our video series on psychosocial safety (https://safetyrisk.net/what-is-psychosocial-safety/ ).