Comparison of U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards and German Berufsgenossenschaften Guidelines for Preventive Occupational Health Examinations.

Abstract

Thirty-three U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards contain mandated medical service provisions. The German Berufsgenossenschaften Guidelines for Preventive Occupational Health Examinations currently comprise 38 guidelines, which contain mandated medical service provisions. Based on a previously published method for scoring several medical program elements, the Berufsgenossenchaften guidelines were compared with the OSHA standards. Specific program elements were combined to generate and compare quality control scores, screening scores and surveillance scores. The asbestos standard/guidelines were compared in more detail (e.g., physical examination, laboratory tests, examination schedule, eligibility). The German medical requirements consistently ranked higher than their U.S. counterparts for overall scores and the scoring indices for quality control, screening, and surveillance. However, this comparison also reveals that few surveillance features have been incorporated into the medical requirements of either country, suggesting that neither country is making full use of workplace medical services for primary prevention.