1998 and beyond - Legge's legacy to modern occupational health

Thomas Legge achieved much in his professional lifetime. The purpose of thi s lecture is to highlight some of these achievements in the light of what w e have achieved since then. In other words, if Legge was in the audience to day, how would he feel we have performed? On 'industrial maladies', progress has been made in reducing poisoning by h eavy metals but our success with chrome ulceration and lead depends on surv eillance and control. Room for improvements remain. For asbestos related di seases, Legge would be disappointed with our progress. Two areas of particu lar concern to Legge were upper Limb disorders and 'occupational neurosis'. Much remains to be done. As a member of the Ist Committee on Compensatable Diseases, a review of the Scheme to date will focus on the common diseases now being prescribed and on the threats to the Scheme from the Benefits review, For the future, there are many challenges in the newer workplaces and the c hanging workforces. The HSE initiatives for a new occupational strategy and the Government Green Paper on Public Health provide great opportunities fo r the occupational health professional to influence the nature and shape of future public health strategy, Above all we must have some of Legge's characteristics to achieve this-visi on, passion and commitment. (C) 1999 British Occupational Hygiene Society, Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.