THE ATLAS OF HEALTH AND WORKING-CONDITIONS BY OCCUPATION .1. OCCUPATIONAL RANKING LISTS AND OCCUPATIONAL PROFILES FROM PERIODICAL OCCUPATIONAL-HEALTH SURVEY DATA

In this article, we describe methods which have been applied in the co mpilation of the Atlas of Health and Working Conditions by Occupation. First, we discuss the need for information systems to identify proble ms concerning working conditions and health. Such information systems have an exploratory purpose, being deployed to identify work risks in companies, groups of occupations and sectors of industry, and can also be a starting point for the generation of hypotheses on the causes of adverse health effects. In the Netherlands, occupational health servi ces gather questionnaire data about work and health as part of periodi cal occupational health surveys. In the atlas, aggregated questionnair e data for 129 occupations with male employees and 19 occupations with female employees are presented. In this article, we explain the metho dology used to compare occupations with regard to each item in the que stionnaire. We then discuss applications of these occupational ranking lists. The cross-sectional nature of the data collection, various for ms of selection and the limited size of some occupational populations have to be taken into account when interpreting the results. Occupatio nal ranking lists can be applied in the allocation of resources and in the design of scientific research. The overviews for each occupation, presented in the second half of the atlas, provide an occupational pr ofile of existing problems with respect to work and health. These prof iles are used as basic information to develop a practical policy on wo rking conditions and health.