Ethics professionals ensure that workers follow established laws and ethical standards in various fields, including government, healthcare, research, and business. They evaluate actions, create reports, and provide guidance and training to ensure compliance with legal and ethical standards.
Establishing and regulating ethical standards is essential in all aspects of business, research, healthcare and government. People who hold ethics offices try to ensure that workers follow established laws and ethical standards. Professionals research the philosophical and legal aspects of ethics, train others in proper ethical principles, and ensure that employees comply with standard procedures. Ethics jobs exist in many different settings, including government regulatory agencies, hospitals, scientific and clinical research institutions, and private companies.
Professionals who hold government ethics positions are often on agricultural, environmental, or industrial oversight bodies. An ethics specialist can supervise urban planning commissions, fishing companies or foresters to ensure they comply with legal ethical standards for environmental protection. Experts carefully regulate the activity of farmers and ranchers in order to enforce laws regarding the use of pesticides, chemicals and growth hormones. In addition, many government ethics jobs involve investigating corporations and factories to ensure that facilities are in compliance with the law and that workers are being treated fairly.
Ethics jobs found in hospitals and other healthcare facilities involve evaluating the actions of doctors, nurses, and other staff. Professionals ensure that medical personnel provide the best possible care to patients within their legal rights and limits. If violations of hospital policy are discovered, ethics professionals create detailed reports to be submitted to hospital boards of directors or other authorities. Boards can take appropriate action to discipline employees or help bring employees and facilities back into compliance.
The work of scientific and clinical researchers is often heavily regulated by ethics experts. A team of ethics professionals might, for example, oversee clinical trials designed to test new pharmaceuticals to ensure that participants are treated appropriately and that the studies are not biased in any way. They carefully monitor the safety of people or animals involved and avoid misrepresentation of statistical results. By carefully monitoring trials, ethics professionals can confirm that the results are reliable and that a drug is ready to be mass-produced and marketed to the public.
Some ethics jobs are found in large companies that value honest business practices. An expert may be involved in investigating allegations of questionable behavior or implementing new company-wide policies on ethical standards. Many professionals provide guidance and training to employees and managers on how to make the most rational and fair decisions in conducting business. They may give talks on the subject, distribute written information through newsletters or e-mail, or meet with employees one-on-one to discuss their behavior.
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