Part 1: Introduce yourself to your fellow students and instructor. Share your college degree plans, briefly explaining what degree you are pursuing, why, and how you think taking this course will assist you in achieving your personal or professional goals. ( pursuing M. S Ocupational Safety & Health Environmental Management/promotion at a laboratory In EHS)
Part 2: Debates encourage you to think critically and to organize your thoughts in a clear, cohesive, and convincing manner. Using the Points to Ponder Scenario presented in the Unit I Lesson, respond to one of the following questions.
Rationalize the decision to use the foreign-made pump in order to provide fire protection to the distribution warehouse. Rationalize why this was the right thing to do versus the right ethical action and professional behavior. Identify the fundamental values of using the pump. What are the short-term and long-term impacts? Review the Unit I Lesson about the dilemma of two rights before responding to this discussion question.
Discuss why using the fire pump is unethical and unprofessional conduct of a fire protection profession. Identify the fundamental values of not using the pump. What are the short-term and long-term impacts?
Please include the name of the person or question to which you are replying in the subject line. For example, “Tom’s response to Susan’s comment.”
ALSO COMMENT ON ANOTHER STUDENTS COMMENT BELOW
Mason:
Good morning class!
My name is Mason and I am an Occupational Safety and Health Manager in the United States Air Force. I have been in the Air Force for 8 years and currently stationed in South Georgia. I am in the process of separating from the military, and have acquired employment as the Director, Environment of Care, Emergency Management, and Safety at Bay Medical Center-Sacred Heart Hospital in Panama City, FL. I am looking forward to the transition. My goals are simple, complete my M.S. in Occupational Safety and Health in order to qualify for adjunct professor positions. My favorite part of Safety is instructing, teaching and mentoring. I have plenty of qualifications, but need to complete my Master’s in order to qualify for most online adjunct instructing positions.
I look forward to seeing where the rest of this class goes, and look forward to hearing from each of you!
Respectfully,
Mason
Part II:
Decisions when installing any material come down to a few basic principles in the eyes of management: cost-effectiveness, production, quality, and efficiency. Although two of these three directly impact safety and prevention, too often I have seen in my career production and cost-effectiveness be the primary driving force with quality and efficiency taking a back seat. Similarly, in this unit’s Points to Ponder Scenario, production was the primary driving force in the contractor’s decision to use a foreign-made pump that is not a part of the specifications listed. In some instances, his risk may work out just fine. The building may never catch on fire (building fires are probably one of the least likely things to occur in today’s age of fire prevention methods), or the system, although not meeting standards, could work like a charm if there ever was a fire. However, without having the stamp of approval from a known specifications qualifier, this is a major ethical dilemma. The short-term impacts are relatively high: first, the building is completed within the appropriate timeframe and production goals are met, likely positively affecting bottom-line dollar figures for the company; and second, no one will likely find out about the issue that was seemingly covered up. The long-term impacts are relatively low. As a Safety Professional, risk assessments are a large part of my job. In this case, the chances of the issue affecting the overall performance of the fire suppression system and/or the building actually ever catching fire and the prevention of spread coming down to the few junctions that do not meet NFPA code is very low. However, this does not replace the fact that an unethical and unprofessional decision has been made. Regardless of the popularity of the decision or information, Safety Professionals are tasked with having hard conversations about missing deadlines, production points, and adding cost in the event that the decision being made is in the best interest of employees and the employer.
References
Brakhage, C., Abrams, A., & Fortney, J. (Eds.). (2016). Fire protection, detection, and suppression systems (5th ed.). Fire Protection Publications.
