Survey of occupational health problems in an operational military environment

16 Armoured Field Ambulance provided primary and secondary medical care to British troops in Bosnia from April to October 1996. Patients presenting at both levels were reviewed and categorized into occupational illness, non-occupational disease and non-occupational injury. The results show that occupational illness was a small but significant component of primary care (8%) with non-occupational injury accounting for < 1%. In secondary care, the more serious nature of the occupational disease seen is shown in that it accounted for 38% of all admissions and 44% of the 149 patients who had to be evacuated from theatre for further treatment. Non-occupational injury represented 8% of admissions and 13% of evacuations.