Health surveillance using an occupational medical database.

This pilot study sought associations between liver function tests (LFTs) and membership in homogeneous exposure groups (HEGs) at a target plant as pre-clinical indications of possible future occupational health problems. A large company database yielded linear models for each of six LFTs (total bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, gammaglutamyl transferase, lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate transaminase, and alanine transaminase) in terms of sex, body mass index, age, race (white/non-white), alcohol and cigarette consumption, and production/non-production (P/NP) job, permitting control for these in analyses of LFTs vs HEGs at the plant. These analyses, with HEG substituted for P/NP in the large group model, resulted in loosely "suspect" associations significant at P < 0.10. Collapsed HEG variable (containing "suspects" separately and all other non-significant HEG levels pooled) yielded "confirmed suspects" at P < 0.05 in the analysis of an independent LFT set taken at the plant approximately one year later.

Managing workplace exposure information.

A quality industrial hygiene program must include the collection and management of workplace exposure information. For many industrial hygienists, however, exposure monitoring data are the only exposure information available. Often, there is no attempt to qualitatively estimate and document all known exposures because mechanisms for doing so are not widely available. Industrial hygienists and other occupational health professionals generally lack information that provides sufficient knowledge and understanding about most employee exposures. The subject of this paper is a description of one company's approach to collecting and managing exposure information through a Job Exposure Profile (JEP) system. The JEP system provides a concise and detailed summary of exposure information for defined exposure groups that can be tracked over time. The value of the system lies in its simplicity and versatility, both as a dynamic tool to be incorporated into a comprehensive occupational health program and as a historical document. The system serves as an effective method for identifying and focusing on significant health hazards for each job at a facility from industrial hygiene, medical, epidemiologic, and engineering perspectives.