ETHICAL SCENARIOS

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ETHICAL SCENARIOS

• A team based approach

Presentation provided by the Volusia County Fire
Chiefs Training Committee
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ETHICAL SCENARIOS

• There are many ethical situations that all
  employees and supervisors must manage in their
  daily lives. These situations often have
  extenuating circumstances that do not allow a
  one-size-fits- all approach to supervising.
• The goal of this training is to require an
  individual (both supervisor and employee) to
  think of alternative solutions to successfully
  mitigate the problem.

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ETHICAL SCENARIOS
On November 2, D.C. firefighters were alerted
about a house fire. 21-year fire veteran Lt.
Gerald Burton was several blocks away, driving a
fire engine to a training class. He called his
supervisor to say he was near the fire and could
help. The supervisor told Burton not to go to the
fire, and ordered him to continue on to the
training class. When Burton's truck was about two
blocks from the fire, he was flagged down by
bystanders who told him that a home was burning.
Burton drove to the address, and saw that it was
indeed on fire.
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ETHICAL SCENARIOS
Burton again alerted his supervisor, who this
time told him to play a backup role rather than a
frontline role in fighting the fire. But he and
another firefighter riding with him were the only
firefighters on the scene, so they extinguished
the flames before the "frontline" firefighters
had time to arrive.
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ETHICAL SCENARIOS
Burton is facing a two-day suspension without pay
for disobeying an order. Disobeying the order, in
this case, meant placing the safety of community
residents and their property above protocol.
Do you feel Lt. Burton made the right choice?
Burton made the right choice his supervisor's
orders were unreasonable and risky, and he was
correct to disobey them. The department needs to
acknowledge that sometimes the most ethical
conduct involves breaking the rules
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ETHICAL SCENARIOS

• To start this training, the class should be
  divided into two distinct groups.
• Ensure that there are an equal mix of
  seniority/rank in each group.
• The groups will have alternate roles for each
  scenario.
• Each group will play the role of either
  supervisor or employee during the different
  scenarios.
• The instructor will read the scenario and the
  groups will have 3-5 minutes to outline a
  response and course of action to be taken.
• Regardless of your rank or experience, attempt to
  justify your actions as outlined in the scenario.
  
• The goal of the instructor should be to encourage
  discussion and ask follow-up questions based on
  answers.

QUESTIONS ?????
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Scenario 1 An employee consistently comes in at
the last minute before shift change. He/she has
never been late but it has caused employees being
relieved to occasionally run a call causing
overtime. Other members have discussed this with
the employee without any change in behavior.

• Group 1
• As the supervisor how would you handle this
  situation?

• Group2
• As the employee defend your actions.

• FACILITATOR COMMENTS

• What if the employee has a special needs child
  requiring advanced care. Regardless of outcome,
  he/she would not be able to come in any earlier.
  Do you feel obligated to treat this employee
  different from someone that is single, without
  children?

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Scenario 2 A senior member of a crew has a
behavior based issue smoking, weight, drinking,
staying up late, overexertion when weight
training, not working out etc. While there are
no specific functions the employee has not been
able to perform, you believe this employee
appears at times physically to perform the job
safely.

• Group 1
• As the employee, do you feel obligated to change
  your behavior?

• Group 2
• As a crew member, what persuasive arguments would
  you use to try to stop the behavior in question?
  

• FACILITATOR COMMENTS
• Is there an ethical issue?

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Scenario 3 A station Lieutenant is also the
owner of a business. The Lieutenant spends an
extraordinary amount of time every shift managing
the business and spending numerous hours on the
cell phone. The Lieutenant also uses the cell
phone to make business calls while responding to
emergencies and while on emergency scenes.

• Group 1
• As a member of the crew, what are your thoughts
  on how this situation should be handled?

• Group 2
• As the Lieutenant, if you have not missed any
  deadlines or faltered operationally, do you feel
  obligated to change your behavior? Explain

• FACILITATOR COMMENTS

• The phone calls and business work have steadily
  increased during the last eight months due to the
  economy. If the business fails, the Lt. may be
  forced to declare bankruptcy and loose his home.
  Does this change you opinion of this action?

Should the department write a policy to address
this situation?
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Scenario 4You are the senior firefighter working
out of class as the driver of a 3-person crew
with a probationary firefighter. The firefighter
comes to work on a holiday morning and you notice
the employee looks very tired, bloodshot eyes and
tells you he/she partied last night. The
station Lieutenant has been filing paperwork in
the office and has not noticed the employees
appearance.

• Group 1
• As the Lieutenant, your driver advises you of
  this situation. What would you do?

• Group 2
• As the acting driver, what would you do?

FACILITATOR COMMENTS

• As the Fire Chief you have been advised of this
  situation, what punishment would you recommend?

• What punishment would you recommend if this
  employee was not on probation?

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Scenario 5 You are a firefighter/paramedic on a
two-person rescue truck. You complain to the
station officer that you feel the driver on the
truck often drives slowly to calls in an attempt
to be cancelled. You are concerned that his/her
actions may be placing your license at risk if
you fail to provide ALS in a timely manner.

• Group 1
• As the Lieutenant, how do you handle this
  situation?

• Group 2
• As the driver of the truck, you are advised by
  the station Lt. about the concerns. How do you
  handle this situation?

• FACILITATOR COMMENTS

Would the actions of the driver be justified if
at any time he/she had been involved in a serious
accident while responding emergency? Would this
change your opinion of the drivers actions?
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Scenario 6 Each shift, your crew eats dinner
together and everyone assists with clean-up.
Crews are re-arranged and you receive a driver
with a history of having a negative attitude.
The driver doesnt eat dinner with the crew and
does not feel obligated to help with clean-up.
Crew integrity is faltering which is causing
growing anxiety and animosity each shift.

• Group 1
• As the driver, do you feel obligated to eat
  dinner and assist with clean-up? Defend your
  actions.

• Group 2
• Supervisor-How would you handle this situation?

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ETHICAL SCENARIOS

• Ethics can be considered moral values. They are
  also open to interpretation.
• A fire officer must weigh each situation
  carefully to ensure they are acting in an ethical
  manner.
• They must also recognize that there may be
  circumstances that would alter what would
  normally be considered a simple decision.

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ETHICAL SCENARIOS

• http//www.ethicsscoreboard.com/heroes/0801_burton
  .html
• http//www.iep.utm.edu/e/ethics.htm
• http//www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/what
  isethics.html