Sunday, December 4, 2011

Just Sleeping on it.

There are few jobs where a lowering of social conscience is not accompanied by a lowering ethics.
Sharlyn Lauby writes a great short post that raises Sleep Deprivation and Ethics issues. Wikipedia states that sleep depreciation "adversely affects the brain and cognitive function."  While there is definite regonition that sleep deprecations is an impairment of ability factor and Amnesty International lists sleep as a form of torture just who is responsible for putting the pressure on, effectively Bulling someone into constantly being on the go while they are on call or actively meant to be in a working situation.

Think of being in a position where you initially stand your ground. You turn off both the machinery you operate and then yourself in order to get that nights sleep. Refreshed both you and the consumers can now use the machinery safety being a priority.  Then something alters.  You take on that extra job just to help out.  Some one wants a day off so you cover.  Gradually what was not normal before has become normal now. Just when the pre training takes precedence over an incident is up to not only the individual but the communities culture the individual enters into. Hence the reason why business are subjected to stronger law suits than the employee.  That is if the employee can obtain and pay for good council while paying the 'lawyers' waiting game. Often setting out of court then finding the life quality has diminished further as they are now known as whistle blowers.

At this point subjective behaviour steps in. Steven Brown states that: ...." the person's subjectivity as such constitutes an actual event which exists in it's own right and is measurable in it's own terms..." Behaviour and impairments being similar to the excess blood alcohol levels sometimes a break down of personal wellness is the trigger.

Through out our lives various behaviour programming occurs. Think about a foreigner to the cultural community you are in.  Say a foot baller attending a boxing match. Or a Vegan attending an event where sitting down to a roast meat meal or eggs and bacon breakfast is obligatory. What do they do? What would you do as the host, the guest next door or even the vegan themselves? Subliminal triggers are released causing judgement decisions to occur relating to the social conventions and poor risk analysis of the guest, the other guests, and the host.

Think of the professional people transporting driver who by convention must drive on the correct side of the road. The brain goes into overload a mini sleep occurs. Hopefully waking up before the accident happens.  Gets a fright . Adrenalin pumps into the system.  They get home and thank their lucky stars and God for another chance to see daylight, kiss their families and play with the dogs.  Then one day something else happens.  This time they realise that through lack of sleep, both drivers are needing an adrenalin fix to keep going. While one person is not transporting the other has picked up clients.  Really dangerous situation.  STOP.  Where are the ethics here?  Besides leaving what do they do, who can they report too?

The eventual effect of being lulled into these situations are depression, anxiety and stress conditions accompanied by guilt should injury or death occur to others. In these situations "...sleep deprecation has the same hazardous effects as being drunk. People who drove after being awake for 17 - 19 hours performed worse than those with a blood alcohol limit of 0.05percent."

Does ethics have a tangible as well as an intangible price tag.  The answer is yes.

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