The principle of high quality of work requires all the people involved in safety at work to assess the situations appropriately and objectively to earn the trust of all the stakeholders. The stakeholders are not only employees and the employer, but also customers, suppliers and the local environment. When taking on the subject of ethical competence, understood as knowledge of current ethical rules, one must mention organisational efficiency, punctuality, expert knowledge, readiness to tackle problems from the working environment, and also respect, credibility and common, everyday politeness in contacts with other people. The professional competences of a person responsible for safety at work should encompass not only OHS knowledge, but also issues connected to ethics and appropriate professional attitudes. The article presents a model approach to chosen aspects of ethical competence which, according to the authors, particularly affect the effectiveness of all the actions shaping a desired level of safety culture and social responsibility.