The Workforce Health and Safety Supporters news outlet reports that the Iranian Association of Occupational Health Engineering and Work Safety Specialists sent a documented letter to Health Minister Dr. Mohammadreza Zafarghandi. It warned against merging academic departments in medical universities and called for immediate review and preservation of the specialty's independent structure.
The association argues that administrative downsizing and merging occupational-health departments would weaken hazard prevention, industrial safety and protection against fatal incidents and occupational disease.
Citing Article 1 of the 1367 (Solar Hijri) law defining the Health Ministry's organization and duties, and Articles 85 and 93 of the Labour Law, the letter identifies worker health and technical protection committees with competent specialists as fundamental governmental responsibilities. Training specialists is therefore a strategic industrial need, beyond university administration.
Occupational health engineering and work safety combine technical disciplines including pollutant identification and control, ergonomics, fire safety and catastrophic industrial risk management. The letter argues that this distinct mission should not be merged into other health departments solely because of subject overlap. It cites the University of South Florida's return from an integrated arrangement to an independent department after management problems as an international example.
Referring to Article 105 of the Seventh Development Plan and parliamentary research reports, the association says organizational streamlining should improve resilience and quality. Occupational incidents and disease impose costs on insurers and healthcare far greater than modest administrative savings from merging departmental management. Relevant specialist board secretaries had already expressed opposition on 23 Tir 1405.
The letter concludes with four demands:
- Suspend implementation pending comprehensive technical and economic assessment;
- Establish a joint working group with specialist board and professional-association representatives;
- Account for operational indicators, particularly production lines' need for safety and health officers;
- Fully preserve the discipline's scientific identity and organizational independence within health higher education.
Source links: hsenk.ir
Original publication date (Solar Hijri): 1405/07/04
Author: Dibagostaran Sanat