In correspondence to European legislation, equal occupational health care will be provided to every worker in Germany, independent of company size, by the year 2004, thus allowing for the necessary adjustments in planning of resources and infrastructure by stepwise implementation of the new law. In order to assist the process of translating the legal requirements into health care practice, the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has initiated a study to assess the status of occupational health care in small-scale enterprises at present (1998) and to estimate the future demand of care by occupational physicians, according to three different future scenarios. In addition, efficient strategies and models of care delivery had to be identified. The study results suggest clearly, that traditional ways of care delivery will have to be supplemented by more efficient alternative routes. New emerging care models will have to be evaluated, though, for quality of care before gaining official acceptance. In order to prepare the ground for public discussion, the study results were presented in a 2days expert workshop in December 1999 in Berlin, along with the presentation of a variety of innovative models and strategies, that had recently started to develop in Germany on an experimental basis, or else were part of other European countries" occupational health care inventory (Finland, France, Netherlands, Sweden). The expert contributions, as presented during the workshop, supplement and reinforce the research results in a very valuable way. The proceedings, therefore, should be regarded as an addendum to the meanwhile available study report (1).

(1) Barth, C.; Glomm, D.; Wienhold, L.: Betriebsärztliche Kleinbetriebsbetreuung - Bedarfsabschätzung, Strategien, zeitgemäße Betreuungsmodelle. Dortmund/Berlin; 2000 Schriftenreihe der Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin; Fb 904