[Ideas, reflections and tools for a modern role of the occupational physician]

Over the last few years, following new legislations, events of media impact, transitions in workplaces, Occupational Medicine is at stake. Often, debate is strong about technical-scientific issues in Occupational Physician (OP) activities, ethics and deontology, professional independence, dignity, training and education. The present work develops through personal thoughts, literature data, reporting of concrete personal experience across various occupational settings and risks, with the aim of promoting a "new" role for the OP, enhance his autonomy, professional skills, uniqueness, quality, credibility, while being convinced that it is certainly necessary and possible to conjugate ethics and scientific approach within daily professional activity of the OP, who in turn should be prone to change pace, evaluate effectiveness of his actions, abandon obsolete and useless practices, focussing on a new, proactive, clinical-diagnostic and managerial role, through good medical practices.