Abstract

Knowledge about past exposure conditions of workers to chemical substances is important in several respects: surveillance, analysis of the toxicological, occupational epidemiology, compensation, creation of predictive exposure models… Since the 1980s, Québec public occupational health network teams have carried out close to one million measurements on exposure to these substances, which are documented in hygiene reports on paper. This preliminary study will establish the feasibility of creating an electronic database of Québec exposure data covering the years 1980-2008 taken from these reports. It will estimate the necessary resources and evaluate the data already available in electronic format, including the SMEST (Medico-Environmental Surveillance of Workers' Health) database. In addition, an interactive tool will be developed using the IRSST’s analytical database (LIMS - Laboratory information management system) to allow researchers to determine rapidly the availability and location, in the Québec health network, of exposure data about a substance or a specific activity sector. This pilot project will serve as a launching board for the medium-term development of a database of Québec occupational exposure measurement data from 1980 to 2008.