Professional Ethics Survey of Environmental/Occupational Health and Safety Professionals

In the field of Environmental/Occupational Health and Safety, there has been substantial discussion of ethical issues associated with professional practice, but there are few published studies of the experiences of environmental/occupational health and safety professionals regarding the ethical issues/dilemmas they face in their workplaces. Through conducting the first survey of its type in Canada, we aim to explore the prevalence and nature of ethical misconduct observed by environmental and occupational health and safety professionals. The survey was distributed in 2024 to members of three key certification bodies, i.e. ECO Canada, Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals, and the Canadian Registration Board of Occupational Hygienists. The survey was completed by participants using the Google Forms platform through Toronto Metropolitan University.

Despite professional certification bodies in the environmental/occupational health and safety field requiring members to adhere to a Code of Professional Ethics, little research has been undertaken on the actual ethical experiences of practitioners. Our review of the published literature has identified only one report on ethical misconduct observed by environmental professionals (in the USA with environmental and resource economists) and four reports on ethical misconduct of OHS professionals – these have focused on occupational hygienists or risk scientists (three studies in the US and one in the UK). These surveys have generally had a small sample size and have been conducted with ‘specialist’ practitioners. The survey we have conducted is the first survey of its type in Canada and includes both ‘generalist’ and ‘specialist’ practitioners, and has a large sample size. The survey focuses on ethical dilemmas/unethical behaviours that environmental and OHS professionals have observed while engaged in their professional practice. The survey also seeks the views of environmental and OHS professionals on what may be the causes of ethical dilemmas/unethical behaviours and what approaches may be effective in preventing unethical behaviour of environmental and OHS professionals.