[Requirements of occupational medicine from the trade union point of view]

Swiss trade unions have long ago recognized occupation health problems. They have cooperated in many attempts to improve the health of the working population. Difficulties in promoting occupational health are partly due to the specific Swiss situation--relatively good health status of the Swiss working population but an occupational medicine rather weak in number and prestige--and the over-emphasis of the economic aspects of work. Rapidly developing technologies make the calculation of risk and the proper allocation of causes more and more difficult. Trade unions have an important role to play as an active partner in the development of occupational health. They stand for independence of occupational physicians and the participation in planning and deciding working conditions. The Swiss trade unions thereby do not merely aim at the elimination or limitation of the risks to health but also at working conditions that permit the full development of the human personality.