Protecting human study subjects from risk or harm is a long-recognized imperative of ethical research. Title 45 CFR Part 46 of the US Code of Federal Regulations, known as The Common Rule, regulates research ethics for most federally-funded human research, but does not apply to research that is privately funded.

Private entities also benefit from instituting formal ethical procedures to guide the conduct of human research that they sponsor or conduct. The primary reason for undertaking such efforts is to protect study subjects from undue risk or harm, while maintaining scientific rigor. An additional benefit may be the enhanced credibility such a program may confer to the validity of industry sponsored/conductedresearch.

This paper describes a program establisihed in 2002. The ExxonMobil Health Research Ethics Program consists of five key elements that include: (1) A Health Research Ethics Committee (HREC) and (2) Formal written Guidelines; (3) A three-tiered review (4) Annual training of both HREC members and potential study investigators (5) Annual Program

Keywords:
strategic planning and management, irb, study subject, business ethics, hrec, research study, exploration, study protocol, health research ethics committee, awareness training
Subjects:
Health, Strategic Planning and Management, Professionalism, Training, and Education, Ethics
Copyright 2012, SPE/APPEA International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production
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