Pages: 24

This chapter includes an introduction as to what is meant by ethics in general, and in the context of this book, why it is an issue for environmental health. It considers what is a profession and what makes a profession and a professional as well as the regulation of professions. The background considers the historic development of the profession and whether it had an ethical dimension, looking also at the professional bodies in the UK. It also considers the status of environmental health officers (or practitioners) (EHOs/EHPs) since the reforms of 1974 prior to which the Chief EHO was a statutory appointment. The Public Health Officers Regulations 1959 and the statutory designations of both “Public Health Inspector” and “Medical Officer of Health” were repealed, and almost all references in legislation to named officers were replaced with “the proper officer of the local authority” and this chapter questions how this has affected the status of EHOs/EHPs and implications for ethical standards.

Pages: 34

This chapter further develops an analysis of ethics and professional ethics in the context of environmental health practitioners (EHPs). It examines “ethical” standards of EHP professional bodies around the world and the role of statutory regulation of the profession. It explores how this affects EHPs whether in local government or in private practice when the profession is not governed or protected by statute and examines how codes are enforced or implemented. It suggests that even if unlikely in the current political climate, how statutory appointment could aid professional ethics. There is also some comparison of ethical codes with non-environmental health professional bodies and potential lessons.

Pages: 19

This chapter looks at how ethics and law relate. This is an important consideration given that many EHOs/EHPs these days consider themselves as “regulators”, although that is an inadequate descriptor of the profession. Although ethics and law are closely related, they are not the same and just because something is legal (or complies with the law) it does not make it ethical. It might be thought that differentiating between the two is obvious, but it is not always so clear cut. Ethics are the principles that guide an individual or society and help them decide what is right and wrong and indeed how they should behave or conduct themselves so that ethics can be seen to regulate an individual’s behaviour regardless of “the law”. What should the EHP do when the law requires them to do something they consider unethical or wrong – “only following orders” is not an acceptable response. This chapter considers, with examples, influences on the use and non-use of the law intended to secure public health and safety.

Pages: 14

This chapter is based very much on issues identified by a few members of the profession from their careers. It highlights ethical questions and issues they have faced or experienced, how these have been resolved or if they have not what the outcome was in the end. It is drawn from interviews or submissions from EHOs/EHPs who volunteered their thoughts as the result of a request on LinkedIn or who had been contacted directly. These have been anonymised. Some of the submissions were in the form of testimonies and underscore some of the matters raised elsewhere in this book. It is not intended that this be a random sample nor may be representative of the profession but is illustrative.

Pages: 11

This chapter further considers and comments on some of the issues raised. It summarises some of the main points on what should be expected of a code of ethics from professional bodies for environmental health practitioners. It seeks to reinforce why ethics is an important issue for EHPs as part of the public health workforce going beyond being bureaucrats and enforcers of legislation – their remit is or should be wider than this. It also spells out why ethics and environmental health is more than just the professional body setting out expected behaviours but should be a two-way street. In addition to any regulatory role professional associations may have, they should be providing support for members on ethical matters. One conclusion is that at the outset of writing this book it was thought that strong professional ethics would also promote the profession and increase entry, but perhaps this was too optimistic. However, an effective Code that recognises what the professional body can do to support and help members facing ethical dilemmas should also be a “selling point”, and that a profession with robust ethics is there to improve public health and address health inequity.