[Occupational health services in Norway in the 1990's]

Around 1,100 physicians are engaged (part time or full time) in the occupational health service. The service takes about 5% of the national resource of physicians' work, costs the businesses around NOK 600 millions annually and covers 35% of the work force. The occupational health service is a heterogeneous service with great variations in organization, size, resources, costs and activities. 40% of the physicians' work concerns work-related activities. Treatment of workers' diseases which are not related to exposure at the work place takes up 22% of the physicians' working time. A fair proportion of the personnel in the occupational health service are well educated, but the service as a whole makes only a partial effort to promote the national objectives for the working environment. In spite of this, no authority has accepted responsibility for supervising the service.