What is the ethical issue?

Effective health and safety procedures can reduce workplace injuries, which are a source of lost time, lost money for the employer and employees, as well as an administrative drain. Workplace security can protect your business against theft, while also guarding the safety of your staff against incursions of violence.

Safety refers to procedures and other matters taken to keep workers from being injured or getting sick. Security overlaps safety somewhat because it can also mean protecting workers from injury, but it is broader and refers to other threats as well, such as sexual harassment and theft.

 

IBE Guidance

A summary of good practice
  • Organisations should set measurable Health, Safety, Security & Environmental (HSSE) performance targets in their business plans which they are committed to fulfilling. Personal and process safety is about more than following rules.
  • Everyone has a responsibility to be alert to safety risks as they go about their daily tasks. Nothing is so important that time cannot be taken to ensure that it is done safely.
  • It should be every organisation's intention that everyone goes home safely - every day, everywhere. All operations must be conducted in compliance with applicable health and safety laws and regulations, company standards and best practice. This means that, in some parts of the world, organisational standards may be higher than local laws.

 

Further resources

Publication type: Survey

IBE Survey - Ethical Risks 2024

19 February 2024

IBE news

Fraud fears rise due to tightening economic conditions

19 February 2024

Blog

What are the ethical risk factors business leaders are most concerned about in 2024?

19 February 2024

Blog

Good Business Week 2024 by Julian Richer & Jenny Herrera

08 February 2024

Webinar

Engaging young people with business ethics webinar recording

28 September 2023

Blog

Post CBI, post Casey, post #MeToo – is now the real time for change?

Read the latest blog from IBE Deputy Director, Rachael Saunders.

27 April 2023

Publication type: Business ethics briefing

Business Ethics in the News 2022

This resource provides an analysis of the year’s news trends and the issues and sectors that featured the most.

12 January 2023

Blog

Is your business ethical - and do your stakeholders think so?

Listen in as Survey Director, Christopher Cowton shares his thoughts on our latest survey, IBE Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics 2022.

30 June 2022

Publication type: Survey

Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics 2022

Businesses and UK politicians must do better at demonstrating their ethical credentials if they are to win back the confidence of the British public - the 2022 results of the IBE's annual survey of the attitudes of the British public to business ethics.

29 June 2022

Webinar

The Power of Trust

View our webinar recording.

27 June 2022

Publication type: Business ethics briefing

Business Ethics in the News 2021

This resource presents an overview of the ethical concerns and lapses, as well as the positive business ethics stories, that the IBE recorded for its media monitoring exercise in 2021. It provides an analysis of the year’s trends and the issues and sectors that featured most frequently.

24 January 2022

Blog

Employees’ voices: a glass half full

The results of our latest Ethics at Work survey bring us some good news, but also some red flags that cannot be ignored as organisations shape their ethical agenda for the future.

08 December 2021

Blog

The right question

Read the latest blog by Mark Chambers, IBE's Associate Director (Governance).

10 November 2021

IBE news

Institute of Business Ethics research suggests companies need to do more to embed ethical behaviour

04 November 2021

Publication type: Survey

Ethics at Work: 2021 International Survey of Employees

This survey is the only one of its kind, covering 13 countries over four continents, that provides real insight into employees’ views on ethics across all sectors and job roles.

04 November 2021

Blog

Every crisis is an opportunity

Read our latest guest blog by Sally March, Jane Mitchell, Robert Smith and Ruth Steinholtz.

13 October 2021

Blog

Attitudes. Ethics. Trust.

In this blog, Guendalina Donde, IBE's Head of Research, discusses the results of the 2020 Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics survey.

13 January 2021

Publication type: Survey

Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics 2020

The 2020 results of the IBE's annual survey of the attitudes of the British public to business ethics.

30 December 2020

Blog

The Lessons of 2020

To end 2020, IBE's Director, Ian Peters, reflects on the lessons learnt and looks ahead to 2021.

23 December 2020

Publication type: Business ethics briefing

Business Ethics in the News 2020

This briefing provides an overview of the ethical concerns and lapses that were recorded by the IBE in its monitoring of media coverage in 2020.

23 December 2020

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