Ethical Safety Leadership

Across six modules, participants explore human error, rule-breaking behaviour, and psychosocial wellbeing, guided by experts from both academia and industry. Designed for professionals across sectors, it provides a foundation for fostering ethical leadership and a just culture within organisations.

The micro-credential consists of six (6) modules designed to build a thorough understanding of legal and ethical safety issues:

• Two Views of Human Error and Why People Break Rules: explores what's called the old view versus the new view to understanding human error. Now old and new are, of course, judgemental terms and there may be much better ways to characterise these different ways of thinking about human error. But first, consider the following quote from colleagues in the nuclear business.  
• Reactions to Failure and Folk Models in Human Factors: in this module, we are going to explore reactions to failure. As a leader, your reaction to failure matters. How you respond to bad news is critical to the ability of your organisation to learn and to make a difference going forward. In cultures of risk secrecy, you learn nothing. There is underreporting and people don't trust you with bad news. A safety culture, on the other hand, is a culture that allows you, the leader, to hear bad news.  
• Your Safety Department and Safety Reporting: This module examines how safety departments can foster a culture of learning and transparency. Across two topics participants will assess approaches for changing safety practices, understand the evolving role of safety professionals, and apply principles to enhance reporting, feedback, and organisational learning. 
• Psychosocial Workplace Management: This module examines the connections between safety culture, industrial relations, legal frameworks, and psychosocial risk management. Participants will explore the roles of unions, management, and regulators in shaping safety performance and organisational resilience. The module also addresses duty holders’ legal responsibilities under WHS laws, including consultation and training requirements. 
• Become a Virtuous Safety Leader: The two topics that make up this module will start to help leaders move the moral dial and help them start doing it now. Moral leaders don’t typically measure the worth of their initiatives in terms of their chances of success. Instead, the worth of their initiatives lies in their integrity; in how the initiatives embody their deepest values and beliefs.  
• Just Culture: This module explores the principles of restorative just culture and its role in shaping ethical safety leadership. It highlights how fostering a culture of accountability, learning, and trust—rather than blame—can promote ethical behaviour and continuous improvement in safety performance.

This course is designed for current and emerging leaders in the safety industry who are committed to fostering ethical practices, understanding human behaviour, and cultivating a just culture within their organisations.

Participants who complete this micro-credential will earn a digital badge to recognise their achievement, demonstrating to employers and peers the skills and knowledge acquired. The course provides 10 credit points (CP) that contribute toward the Graduate Certificate in Safety Leadership at Griffith University. This allows for credit stacking when paired with other micro-credentials.

This 12-week online course is structured for flexible, self-paced learning and is hosted on Griffith University's Learning Management System. The course includes:

• Rich content featuring videos, readings, case studies, and activities.
• Optional interactive webinars for deeper discussion, potentially featuring Qantas subject matter experts.
• Assessments that involve workplace analysis and scenario-based tasks to reinforce practical understanding and direct application of course material.

Lead academic, Sidney Dekker, is a Professor in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science. Sidney has founded the Safety Science Innovation Lab in 2012, which introduced ‘Safety Differently’ and ‘Restorative Just Culture’. Both have inspired global movements for change and undergird Griffith University's highly popular Graduate Certificate in Safety Leadership. Please CLICK HERE for Professor Sidney Dekker.