All OEHN physicians align with ACOEM Ten Core competencies. In addition to the specific OEM competencies, there are important skills that those practicing OEM may obtain but which are not an aspect of the basic foundation of OEM. Competencies that are expected of all physicians are also separated out from the OEM specific competencies.

1. Clinical Occupational and Environmental Medicine
2. OEM Related Law and Regulations
3. Environmental Health
4. Work Fitness and Disability Integration
5. Toxicology
6. Hazard Recognition, Evaluation, and Control
7. Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management
8. Health and Productivity
9. Public Health, Surveillance, and Disease Prevention
10. OEM Related Management and Administration

Core Competencies Defined

1. Clinical Occupational and Environmental Medicine: The physician has the knowledge and skills to provide evidence based clinical evaluation and treatment for injuries and illnesses that are occupationally or environmentally related.
2. OEM Related Law and Regulations: The physician has the knowledge and skills necessary to comply with regulations important to occupational and environmental health. This most often includes those regulations essential to workers’ compensation, accommodation of disabilities, public health, worker safety, and environmental health and safety.
3. Environmental Health: The physician has the knowledge and skills necessary to recognize potential environmental causes of concern to the individual as well as to community health. Environmental issues most often include air, water, or ground contamination by natural or artificial pollutants. The physician has knowledge of the health effects of the broad physical and social environment, which includes housing, urban development, land-use and transportation, industry, and agriculture.
4. Work Fitness and Disability Integration: The physician has the knowledge and skills to determine if a worker can safely be at work and complete required job tasks. The physician has the knowledge and skills necessary to provide guidance to the employee and employer when there is a need for integration of an employee with a disability into the workplace.
5. Toxicology: The physician has the knowledge and skills to recognize, evaluate, and treat exposures to toxins at work or in the general environment. This most often includes interpretation of laboratory or environmental monitoring test results as well as applying toxicokinetic data.
6. Hazard Recognition, Evaluation, and Control: The physician has the knowledge and skills necessary to assess if there is risk of an adverse event from exposure to physical, chemical, or biological hazards in the workplace or environment. If there is a risk with exposure, then that risk can be characterized with recommendations for control measures.
7. Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management: The physician has the knowledge and skills to plan for mitigation of, response to, and recovery from disasters at specific worksite as well as for the community at large. Emergency management most often includes resource mobilization, risk communication, and collaboration with local, state, or federal agencies.
8. Health and Productivity: A physician will be able to identify and address individual and organizational factors in the workplace in order to optimize the health of the worker and enhance productivity. These issues most often include absenteeism, presenteeism, health enhancement, and population health management.
9. Public Health, Surveillance, and Disease Prevention: The physician has the knowledge and skill to develop, evaluate, and manage medical surveillance programs for the work place as well as the general public. The physician has the knowledge and skills to apply primary, secondary, and tertiary preventive methods.
10. OEM Related Management and Administration: The physician has the administrative and management knowledge and skills to plan, design, implement, manage, and evaluate comprehensive occupational and environmental health programs and projects.