NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) Testimony on Occupational Diseases Before the Subcommittee on Manpower Compensation and Health and Safety, House Committee on Education and Labor, by Edward J. Baier, May 7, 1975

摘要

The statement concerned a 2-year pilot project designed by the Office of Occupational Health Surveillance and Biometrics to field test a method for determining the extent of certain work related diseases in selected groups of actively employed workers. The study consisted of relating health findings based on medical questionnaires and physical examinations to information on current and past occupational exposures to chemical and physical agents. One important aim of the study was to secure insight into the magnitude of the discrepancy between reported cases of occupational disease and results from a special survey designed to identify conditions that are work related. On comparing the findings with reports from workmen's compensation claims records, it was noted that the vast majority of work related conditions discovered in the survey had not been reported as occupational diseases in compensation offices. This confirmed the belief that many occupational diseases were occurring and going unrecognized, and therefore unreported.