Fire Service Ethics Chapter 1 Introduction

PG 6 6 FIRE SERVICE ETHICS CAPT TEST 2024 Fire Service exist for one purpose only> To assist others in need Text is intended to accomplish three goals 1. Make ethics more assessable 2. to initiate discussion 3. to foster ethical intelligence No other profession places such a discretionary burden on its practitioners as the Fire Service Basic understanding of right and wrong, and of moral and immoral are essential for daily life 4 sections: 1. Foundations: Encourages critical analysis of ethical systems in an understanding of the basics of human behavior 2. Ethics for Frontline personnel: issues related to rank in file, and diversity 3. Ethics for administrative personnel: ethic issues, faced by fire chiefs and senior administrative personnel. Building and maintenance of an ethical work culture. 4. Applied ethics for the Fire Service: universal application in all programs Ethical attachment refers to ethical obligations. Question the basis for the assumption of moral culpability or ethical responsibility. Ethical Axioms = truth (Personal and professional) Aristotle and Kant Three approaches to ethics: Personal: 1. Pursuit of virtue: no harm to others, by in action allow harm to others. Quality of life depends on safety and cooperation. Absent these are brutality and anarchy. 2. Pursuit of best consequences: seek Justice. Ethics is rooted in human relationships. Greed is contradictory to ethical behavior. 3. Personal responsibility to others contributes to the common good. Take without contributing is to use others for personal gain. Unfair and unjust is inherently unethical. 4. Respect the humanity of others. Right to dignity, self-determination, and equality. Lying shows a lack of personal integrity. Professional: 1. To provide the highest quality of service made possible by circumstances and funding. Fire Service organizational principle is to save lives and protect property. 2. To conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the trust and faith placed on them. 3. To control and utilize public resources, and have an ethical obligation to manage those resources, judiciously and equitably. 4. Responsibility to the welfare of the department and to its members. Departments reputation is essential to its success and longevity. 5. Fire officers have a responsibility to fulfill the duties bestowed on them as a condition of rank. Ethically obligated to act through the provision of emergency services, risk reduction, activities, and the responsible management of public resources. Chapter 1 Introduction What is ethics? The definition of ethics would most likely fall under: 1. Following your conscience: Choosing between lesser evils. Developed by values we are taught in life experiences. Equal to INNATE (present from birth) and SUBJECTIVE(reality as perceived rather than independent of mind). 2. Has to deal with religion and morality: identify is right or wrong, but only would apply to religious people. 3. Is being a good person 4. Is abiding by the law 5. Is about doing what Society says is right Webster’s dictionary: ethics as “rules of behavior based on an idea about what is morally good and bad: an area of study that deals with ideas about good and bad behavior: branch of philosophy, dealing with what is morally right and wrong: believe that something is very important. It appears that MORALITY (system of moral conduct) and ethics are synonymous with each other: but this is not the case. 1. Morality: tied to universal accepted principles of behavior “thou shall not kill” 2. Ethics: confined to human interaction. Described as fairness, justice, and greater good.  Ethics is rooted in individual perception, it is not dependent on an individual circumstances. US Constitution is designed to protect the rights of individuals from the tyranny of majority. Certain universal principles are written in pencil, and other words, subject to change. Concept of ethics seems to be ever shifting sins of social norms, morals, the law and personal values yet tied to confounded students and philosophers for centuries. 7 8 9 9 Ethics is very much social interaction: 1. Judged as good or bad almost entirely on impact on others. 2. Study of ethics is complex and fluidity of social expectations. ETHICS: 3 general goals: 1. Defined behavior and boundaries within a relationship 2. Establish generally accepted standards of right and wrong based on personal obligation, benefits to society, compliance to behavioral standards, and specific virtues. 3. Study and development of personal standards of behavior through continuous evaluation of one’s own belief system, and conduct. ETHICAL RESTRAINT: First lesson when born was physical safety, however, soon become social expectations. etiquette, politeness, obedience. 1. These lessons include politeness, proper dress, etiquette, and most importantly obedience.  Very in nuance and expediency  Behaviors, rooted in values, traditions, ideas, ideals, and morality are often taught and subjective, the subtle and subjective elements shape our PERSONAL ETHICS = principal and values.  Punishment is dependent on supervision. Avoiding punishment: 1. Society has intricate and robust set of methodologies to monitor and enforce compliance to its prescribed rules.  Compliance is intrinsically connected to the likelihood of discovery and severity of punishment. 2. ARUGUMENTUM AD BACULUM: punish or reward of actions, mediate our behavior. Socrates: “An unexamined life is not worth living “. 1. Arguing for the value of self-reflection and self understanding, self-respect, our key to individual happiness. Trust is hard earned, but incredibly valuable commodity. People with reputations for honesty and trustworthiness are almost always more successful. Popular wisdom warns “you cannot fool all the people all the time “. Individuals with strong principles are more comfortable and interpersonal relationships and free from the insecurities associated with self-doubt. Highly develop sense of self-worth can free and individual to take on challenges that lead to success. Ethical behavior is critical for the maintenance of a stable society. Commerce, art, science and quality of life cannot exist without ethical people working together. Government has limited ability to control individual citizens, demonstrated with prohibition of alcohol. Ethics is essential to cooperation; cooperation is at the core of human social bonds. Cooperated to coexist etiquette, politeness, and self-restraint expressions. 1. ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR: Lack of ethics, morals, social restraint, and often considered sign of mental illness and unprovoked violence. “inhuman “. Parents, churches, and teachers in still in us, values, traditions, and principles. The justice system promulgates laws that mandate behavior. 1. ETHICAL DILEMMAS: (value and moral imperatives conflict with each other) 2. MORAL RELATIVISM: View of (right and wrong is predicted on context) and the belief that actions must be judged in context. Involves experience, the time and place of the act, the situation, unique factors, and intent of the action. Effectively creating a moving target when trying to decide what is the goal versus unethical, or moral versus non-moral. I.E. is “you had to be there “. 3. Shakespeare: “to thine own self be true “this meaning remains true to our own nature. Ultimately our own conscience and values will determine our actions. 4. Actions are objectively influenced by our conscious, they are OBJECTIVELY(not influenced by personal feelings or opinions), judged by others. Study of ethics encourages introspection, and through understanding of why we choose a course of action. 5. Socrates: “unexamined life was not worth living” “Comfortable on our own skins “.  Key benefit in the study of ethics is self-analysis 6. Experiences and beliefs shape our judgment is a powerful tool in the pursuit of happiness through the elimination of self-doubt, brings authenticity and integrity to your decision-making. 7. Study of ethics shed light and why people do what they do, this foster greater understanding and empathy. There are several benefits:  Understanding what drives behavior is to be able to better predict behavior  Social media has become more pervasive, society can easily express opinions. The value of this makes our society transparent regarding moral and ethical diversity. However, with transparency comes potential conflict. 10 11 14 16 8. TOLERANCE: (sympathy for beliefs conflicting with own)less frustrated by actions of others when those actions are unexpected or disappointing.  Conversely, the focus on behavior absent understanding of contextual influence can lead to anger, confusion, and fear. Firefighters inherit tremendous responsibility as a condition of employment. 1. FIRE ADMINISTRATIORS: responsible for taxpayer money, sign, contracts, discipline, employees, write policies that effects stakeholders. 2. With responsibility comes an ethical obligation to act responsibly. 3. Complexity of our responsibilities coupled with the significant impact of our decisions, makes the study of ethics very important for firefighters. Military and police, “protect through confrontation”. Firefighters are different than law and military that the core missions is not adversarial. FF do not apply force or limit activities. Firefighters make strategic and tactical decisions in which they balance resources against likely success, however, they have an added responsibility of incorporating relative value into their “cost benefit analysis “. Reputation: factor that separates the Fire Service from other professions. Represents bravery, selfsacrifice, and competence. Relationship the Fire Service has with the public is a critical element in its culture. Fire Service has a growing ethical problem 1. Millennials are more conservative than baby boomers 2. The other problem is not generational, rather it is rooted in the culture in which the current generation works. Rules have changed: 1. Public perception regarding behavior has changed 2. Americans have become more conservative and politically correct. Practical jokes, racist, language, and pornography are no longer excused in the workplace. 3. Departments are taxpayer supported, and are expected to have professional behavior` News media has changed: 1. Newsrooms have become profit centers, human interest stories have become more important, especially scandals. “Bad behavior by Firefighter sells “.  News from the Internet has two effects: gives the appearance of greater occurrences of bad behavior  Lifespan of a story has become infinite. Social media’s impact on the news: most significant cultural change is the rise of social media. 1. VIRAL POST: (blog/social media message that is continually shared) pictures and video can be uploaded in real time. Our approach to ethics: 1. New reality with significant consequences. For many years, the Fire Service approach to ethics, retroactively, focusing on only punishing bad behavior. 2. Reputation status with the community helps us to recruit the very best people 3. Public support is critical to maintaining staffing during local budget fights. 4. We must change our post ethics by becoming more proactive. 1980, general acceptance of FF injury as a foregone conclusion: 1. it was considered part of the job. 2. Accident producing injuries were unpredictable and unavoidable 20th century, culture change regarding safety. Leadership insisted that injuries were predictable and avoidable. Fire safety became a priority. Ethics violations are destroying careers, derailing department initiatives, and ruining morale. Ethics violations are predictable, behavioral problems, usually start off as small and escalate, and there are warning signs. “That which can be predicted can be prevented “ Scandal can cause emotional suffering, and careers, ruin lives, cost money, derail, strategic plans, and destroy morale.