Trends and development of occupational health services in Norway.

Occupational Health Services (OHS) in Norway cover approximately 1.2 million employees, equivalent to 60% of the total work force. They employ nurses (800), physicians (500), physiotherapists (360), safety engineers (400), psychologists (30) and others (400), a total of 2500 full time employmancy. The average cost of the OHS amounts to 150 euros per employee, a total cost of 180 million euros per year. In 1998, the OHS in Norway were evaluated. The evaluation, initiated by the Ministry, revealed that although 80% of the enterprises are fairly satisfied with their OHS, there is still much to be improved, in particular quality development and customer focus. By 2000 the National Practice Guidelines. ("Good OHS") were developed as a joint effort of the professional OHS associations, representatives from the social partners and the NIOH. These guidelines have been evaluated and well accepted by the OHS. Last year the Ministry of Labour appointed an advisory group of experts on OHS. The group was asked to examine: the "branch provision" on obligatory OHS and the availability of health resources; the legislation on OHS tasks; the quality improvement of OHS; and the OHS in small enterprises The report was ready in May 2001 stating that the OHS may be a useful contributor to the improvement of the health, environment and safety in enterprises and included the following recommendations: to establish the OHS for all within 10 years and to ratify relevant ILO convention; to develop a certification system for the OHS; to ensure financial public support of the OHS for the small enterprises; and to expand the OH hospital departments as important supportive agents for the OHS. The report will be a background document for the revision process of the Work Environment Act to be soon put into force.