[Quality assurance systems and occupational medicine system: an history twenty years along]

Along the last tventy years, in our country the quality assurance systems and the occupational medicine deeply interacted both in theoretical and practical fields of interest at three levels: (i) the need of preventive and therefore of occupational medicine in quality assurance systems; (ii) the need on reverse of quality in prevention and occupational mnedicine mainly in qualification and updating process; (iii) the evidence, proofs of efficacy or appropriateness of different preventive procedures and occupational physician activities; (iv) the connection with European and national legal directives and with technical or good practice norms. Finally we discuss about the role of occupational physician as the global consultant for enterprise, as a mandatory strategic technical figure in a typical multidisciplinary processes as the implementation of the quality systems.