[Comparative analysis of occupational health physician's duties based upon legislative decree 81/2008 art. 25 and upon the Ethics Code of the International Commission on Occupational Health].
BACKGROUND
Ethical behaviour consists ofindividual choices inspired by knowledge and professional experience derived from the universally acknowledged ethical principles of beneficience/nonmaleficience, autonomy and justice. However, in spite of the unanimous consent on their universal importance, such principles do not usually have the strength of a law.


OBJECTIVE
The recently introduced Italian law on the protection of workers' health represents a novelty because it gives the Ethics Code of the International Commission on Occupational Health legal strength. This paper aims at examining article 25 of legislative decree 81/2008 by comparing the points of the Ethics Code and the Deontology Code of the Italian medical profession.


RESULTS
The relationships between the 12 points of paragraph 1 of article 25, the 26 points ofthe Code ofEthics and the 75 articles of the Deontology Code are described with regard to the occupational health physician's duties (i) of collaboration with other occupational health professionals, (ii) of organization and execution of health surveillance, (iii) of recording, securing, transmitting of medical files on workers' health and (iv) of employee and employer information on the importance and meaning of health surveillance.
Franco
G
G
Dipartimento Integrato di Medicine e delle Specialità Mediche, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Largo del Pozzo 71, 41100 Modena. franco@unimo.it
Mora
Erika
E
D032781:Codes of Ethics; D007390:International Agencies; D007558:Italy; D016272:Occupational Health; D009787:Occupational Medicine / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*