Ethical issues in occupational disease outbreak investigations

Occupational disease outbreak investigations usually involve rapid, small-scale analysis of reports of diseases with a suspected occupational etiology, usually in a single workplace or among workers of a single employer. Ethical issues are similar to those encountered in epidemiologic studies in the workplace, with the added constraints of the need to respond rapidly, limited numbers of subjects, low statistical power, and the mandate to issue results even when the ability to generalize them is limited. Informed consent, voluntary participation, fairness, and confidentiality are major ethical issues in workplace outbreak investigations. The obligation to publicly report a workplace hazard when a non-disclosure statement has been signed can also present an ethical dilemma for outbreak investigators.