Richter E D
J Health Polit Policy Law. 1981 Summer;6(2):339-46. doi: 10.1215/03616878-6-2-339.
Telling the worker about exposure to occupational hazards and their potentially adverse health effects has been established as an ethical principle of occupational health and safety. Situations or issues that may result in incomplete application or nonapplication of this principle include: (1) the employee's need to initiate the disclosure process; (2) medical reluctance to disclose exposure data; (3) long latency periods between exposure and effect; (4) problems of quality control; (5) the use of monitoring methods with low predictive value; (6) statutory secrecy provisions; (7) doctor-patient communication difficulties; (8) serious social and health problems not related to work environment; (9) the nonspecific nature of most work-related morbidity; and (10) the absence of any monitoring whatsoever. Obligatory disclosure of exposure information is hypothesized to spur preventive measures, environmental and personal, for both short- and long-term hazards. Where the foregoing problems interfere with full disclosure, this norm's full preventive role may not be fulfilled. Evaluation of the effect of disclosure requirements on promoting occupational health and safety must include attention to this possibility.
告知工人其接触的职业危害及其潜在的不良健康影响，已被确立为职业健康与安全的一项伦理原则。可能导致该原则未得到充分应用或未被应用的情况或问题包括：（1）员工需要启动披露程序；（2）医疗机构不愿披露接触数据；（3）接触与影响之间的潜伏期较长；（4）质量控制问题；（5）使用预测价值较低的监测方法；（6）法定保密条款；（7）医患沟通困难；（8）与工作环境无关的严重社会和健康问题；（9）大多数与工作相关的发病率的非特异性；以及（10）完全没有任何监测。假设强制披露接触信息能够促使针对短期和长期危害采取环境和个人层面的预防措施。如果上述问题妨碍了充分披露，那么该规范的全面预防作用可能无法实现。对披露要求在促进职业健康与安全方面的效果进行评估时，必须考虑到这种可能性。
