It seems the tragedy that beset Bangladesh when a garment factory building collapsed last week, killing more than 900 workers, isn’t over.  The country now faces the potential of a significant economic setback as a result of the horrific incident.

Western companies — many of them behind big commercial brand names — that outsource materials and products to Bangladesh are threatening to pull out their business if the country doesn’t shape up and improve working conditions in its factories.

Every day in the media we hear reports of bullying in our schools, on the Internet and in the workplace. There are, of course, many more tools at the disposal of today’s bullies. The pain, horror, mental distress and even death as a result of the senseless, inhuman treatment of people seems to have risen to a level that should cause outrange among all of us, and our leaders.  

I have been posting on competences and certifications in the past few articles. And when thinking about what my next post would be, it kind of fell together when I was doing some site work recently. During an informal conversation with the site safety people, the topic of competency and ethics came up. And wow, what a can of worms that was, as it became a heated discussion.  

I remember as the president of the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering a few years ago, the concepts, definitions and semantics around "professional and practitioner," and where they should be used, were the subject of many debates — and I am sure they still are.