The prevention of work-related health hazards and diseases is a statutory duty which extends beyond the traditional objectives, rooted in insurance law, of preventing work accidents and occupational diseases. It is therefore described as "extended prevention". Under German occupational safety and health law, not only employees, but also company doctors, the accident insurance bodies and other players are responsible for performing certain tasks to fulfil this obligation. The parties involved are also obliged to collaborate. The co-operation between the actors in this field was a subject of a workshop organised by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Berlin at 21.11.1998.

The present conference report contains the papers presented at this workshop. After an introduction to the subject from the Permanent Deputy of the President and the head of the Occupational Medicine Department of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the first part is given over to representatives of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Association of German Company and Works Doctors, the Hauptverband der Berufsgenossenschaften (employers' liability insurance associations) and the statutory health insurance schemes - illustrated here by the company insurance schemes -, who present their basic positions on the subject. The second part contains descriptions of finished and ongoing research projects on this subject and reports from corporate practice, which relate mainly to the experi-ence of company doctors