Activities, experiences and perspectives from the Latin American network

Introduction:     The International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) is in the process of revising its International Code of Ethics for Occupational Health Professionals, trying to enhance its relevance for occupational health practice at local, regional and global levels. Previous surveys done in 2006 and 2009 in Latin American countries revealed the Code was used for information or consultation purposes, but not for practical ones; and that severe violations of ethical principles in professional practice of OH were occurring often.    

Methods:     Several meetings, workshops, debates and round tables were carried between 2009 and 2011, where participants coming from Colombia and other Latin American countries shared case scenarios, ethical dilemmas and gave their perspectives on how to make the ICOH code approach such situations.    

Results:     A list-server network was settled revealing that OH professionals had to adapt and interact with different groups of interested parties and stakeholders. Prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment of occupational injuries and diseases became a field of conflicts of interest, because stakeholders have to either protect and improve workers’ health, or compensate the injured or ill worker. OH professionals must have a fair and objective judgment to provide the services and the benefits required by the workers, despite the pressures of the forces in the field.    

Discussion:     Many ethical dilemmas and irregularities were mentioned to enhancing the fact that perverse incentive policies in healthcare organizations were carried out for accelerating or denying the compensation processes running under the responsibility of the OH professionals. Recommendations such as professional commitment and practice should be strongly enforced with ethical and deontological practices. Observance of corruption and other unethical practices should also be mentioned in the new text. Law reinforcement, regulation, standardization and quality assurance for providing OH and healthcare service could also be good opportunities to improve ethics in OH practice.