Establishment of a Work-Related Diseases Surveillance System in Taiwan, Republic of China

Background.The occurrence of occupational illness and injury has been seriously underestimated in Taiwan, which subsequently contributes to difficulties in performing effective control of occupational hazards and implementing intervention programs for protecting workers. Methods.Based on the successful experience of the nationwide blood lead level surveillance program, the Department of Health, the Executive Yuan, Taiwan, Republic of China, has established a work-related diseases surveillance system. This government-administered system requests practicing physicians to report the suspected cases suffering from six categories of work-related disorders. Results.An occupational illness and injury surveillance program in Taiwan has been in operation since June of 1995. Conclusion.Background information of work-related diseases obtained from this surveillance system will be useful for providing better management of available resources for occupational medicine, for preventing hazards, and for enforcing occupational diseases prevention programs. Our experience in establishing this surveillance system will be used in other countries and settings.