Ethics Guidance for Occupational Health Practice 9th Edition - Book - Page 2
Foreword
Ethics provides the foundation for professional practice. The first edition of the FOM
Ethics Guidance for Occupational Health Practice was published in 1980, soon after the
Faculty was formed. This and subsequent editions have supported generations of
colleagues, underpinning ethical, impartial assessment and advice on health and work,
reflecting our dual obligations to workers and to those who commission our services.
This 9th Edition is the output of the reshaped Ethics Committee appointed following a
thorough review of the Terms of Reference in 2024 and 2025. First meeting in July
2025, the committee under the leadership of Hilary Winch has over these last eight
months thoroughly reviewed and updated the guidance, which is approved by FOM
Board. I should like to thank personally all the committee members for their
exceptional work, which includes two lawyers, the two lay members of the FOM Board
(representing employers and workers respectively), ex-officio members and allied
health professional, nursing and medical members as listed within this publication.
As highlighted by the Chair in her preface, a departure from the previous editions is
that the ethics guidance will now be published online and FOM Board also decided
this will from now on be freely accessible at no charge. This will enable the broad
range of people with an interest in ethics in occupational health practice to access the
guidance, and updates can be more frequent and as often as needed to inform ethics
in practice.
Dr Robin Cordell
MBA FRCP FFOM
President, Faculty of Occupational Medicine
March 2026
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