Ethics and Total Worker Health: Constructs for Ethical Decision-Making and Competencies for Professional Practice

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health and Safety
• Public Health Ethics
• Workplace Well-being

Background:

• Modern workplaces face increasing technological demands, long hours, and emerging hazards, impacting worker safety and health.
• Factors like precarious work, uncertain exposures, and organizational issues (workload, work design, interpersonal dynamics) threaten worker well-being.
• The interplay between personal health risks and occupational exposures, alongside employer economic pressures, complicates ethical decision-making for practitioners.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review Total Worker Health (TWH) literature and related ethical constructs.
• To examine ethical codes within occupational safety and health and health promotion disciplines.
• To propose ethical competencies for TWH professionals to address emerging ethical dilemmas.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive literature review of Total Worker Health (TWH) and ethical frameworks.
• Analysis of existing codes of ethics for relevant professional disciplines.
• Application of an ethical decision-making model to a TWH case study.

Main Results:

• Total Worker Health (TWH) strategies are increasingly adopted for worker protection and health promotion.
• The implementation of TWH approaches highlights significant ethical dilemmas.
• A core set of ethical competencies for TWH professionals has been identified.

Conclusions:

• Ethical constructs are essential for guiding decision-making within Total Worker Health (TWH) initiatives.
• A proposed transdisciplinary framework of ethical competencies can support a robust workplace ethical culture.
• Addressing ethical complexities is crucial for the effective advancement of worker safety, health, and well-being.