Poison Control Center follow-up of occupational disease.

Abstract

We followed up 73 of 372 calls to a Regional Poison Control Center (RPCC) that involved workplace disease/exposure(s); most other calls were not made by the workers. An average of 12 additional people per workplace were potentially exposed. Six of the 73 contacted a government agency for investigation of the hazard/illness. Twenty-five percent of callers were still exposed an average of seven months after the original call. The results indicate that poison control centers should develop a public health component to calls about possible workplace poisonings.