Professor Jorma Rantanen, MD, PhDis researcher and specialist in occupational health.He made his PhD on radiation biology and biochemistry in 1973 (Radiation Injury of Connective Tissue. A biochemical investigation with experimental garnuloma). He specialized in occupational health in the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, FIOH. Until 2003 he served for 30 years as the Director General of theFIOH. He has served as the President of the International Commission on Occupational Health, ICOH for the tenures 2003-2006 and 2006-2009.
Dr Rantanen has experience in practical occupational health services, in clinical occupational medicine, clinical radiology, occupational toxicology and risk assessment, He has published about 500 research and professional (practice) articles. He is an author of several books and book chapters on occupational health,occupational medicine, radiation biology and toxicology, risk assessment, prevention of occupational cancer and during the recent years on research on work in the information society and professional networking. He has authored several textbooks and guidelines for training and education of OSH professionals on risk assessment, good occupational health and safety practices, basic occupational health services, prevention and health promotion, and guidelines for implementation of new legislations on occupational health and safety.
Professional ethics is a branch of applied ethics, which has its roots in the principles of antique Hippocrat (460-370 BC) then formalized and generalized by Plato (428?-348 BC) and Aristotele (384-322 BC). Today applied ethics is considered to have several branches, including Medical ethics, Bio-ethics, Cyber Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Personal Ethics, Professional Ethics, Public Ethics, International Ethics and so on.
Several professional organizations on occupational health and safety, including IOHA and ICOH, IEA, IALI have drawn codes of ethics or codes of conduct for the memberships. In these codes, the core principles in professional ethics have remained the same since times of Hippocrat, but certain variation in the contents are observed and a number of additional dimensions have been included in the course of development of the working life. The key principles found in the codes are:
• Autonomy: Respecting autonomy of the client
• Beneficence: Doing good: Protection of Life and obligation to help those in need
• Non-maleficence: Not doing bad, avoiding harm
• Objectivity: Basing judgements and decisions on evidence and or recognized professional experience
• Confidentiality: Keeping and protecting the individuals’ secrets
• Collegiality: Respecting fellow professionals
• Competence: Maintaining and continuously developing professional knowledge and skill
• Moderation of financial rewards in relation to service and the ability of the client to pay.
Numerous threats hurt the professional ethical principles in the contemporary world of work, for example:
• Value relativism
• Excessive competition
• Dominance of economic dimension
• High rhythm of work life
• New unexperienced events and activities
• Ethical incompetence
• Conflict between institutional/organizational ethics vs. professional ethics
• Dramatic business scandals (=collapses of business ethics) even in giant multinational corporations.
Several professionals have reported “ethical stress” at work due to conflict between their professional values and unethical principles of cultures of communities and organizations. Protecting professional ethics is not only the benefit of professionals themselves, but important for the whole international and national communities, enterprises, workers and public at large, i.e. common good. The seven guiding principles by the UK Government Chief Scientific Advisor, sir David King are.
• Act with skill and care, keep skills up to date
• Prevent corrupt practice and declare conflicts of interest
• Respect and acknowledge the work of other scientists
• Ensure that research is justified and lawful
• Minimise impacts on people, animals and the environment
• Discuss issues science raises for society
• Do not mislead; present evidence honestly.
High and up to date competence behind the professional independence and support by professional Associations, their ethics codes, support to members and collegial support by fellow-members are crucial in maintaining the principles of professional ethics in the contemporary globalizing world of work. International professional Associations in occupational health and safety should recognize their roles as guardians of professional ethics, they could collaborate more intensively in promotion of ethical dimension in the globalising world of work and provide support for the implementation of the key ethics principles in the everyday life of their memberships.