These proceedings contain the papers presented at a workshop organised by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) which took place in Berlin on 16.01.1999. The aims of the workshop were to present and to discuss the results of the research project, conducted by the BAuA on "Trials of a basic study programme for occupational medical check-ups (BAPRO) with a view to its applicability in work medical services including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)" [project No. F 5120 (01.006), final report published in the series of the BAuA - Research Report Fb 867 (in German)].

Developed by a working group of the occupational medical committee of the Hauptverband der Berufsgenossenschaften (HVBG) and printed in the "Berufsgenossenschaftliche Grundsätze für arbeitsmedizinische Vorsorgeuntersuchungen", HVBG, 2nd edition, Stuttgart 1998", BAPRO was tested as part of the above research project, by 71 work physicians during medical check-ups of 644 employees at enterprises in different branches, of different sizes and operating in different models of health care.

In this report the members of the project team present the procedure and test results in detail. Additional papers were presented from the circle of BAPRO authors on the concept and objectives of the BAPRO development and on the conclusions and prospects based on the results of the field study.

Furthermore, the results of the working group discussion, structured in accordance with the key issues, are summarized and presented. The group discussion took place in the afternoon as part of the workshop. In addition to the morning speakers and other participants, 14 occupational physicians who took part in the trials participated in the discussion. With regard to the future development of the BAPRO, the discussion favoured a rapid modularisation of the study programme. The basic approaches of the BAPRO, welcomed in principle, could be best put into practice if the occupational physician had the possibility of adapting the study programme and the volume of documentation to the requirements of the actual situation.