Alert and sentinel systems in OSH

The pattern of recognised diseases for which compensation will be given does not reflect the real situation in workplaces. At an EU-OSHA workshop on the burden of work-related disease, it was reported that, despite reporting obligations and open occupational disease lists, there is often no system in place to actively identify, target and respond to potential case reports of work-related disease. Sentinel systems can help overcome this problem by pooling reports from a large number of informed and trained ‘sentinel’ physicians or other trained experts (e.g. occupational nurses).

Monitoring reports of work-related diseases that are considered early warning signs can help to identify situations or workplaces where occupational safety and health management needs to be improved. EU-OSHA has published research on alert and sentinel systems to catch early signs of work-related diseases:

Alert and sentinel systems – literature review

Alert and sentinel systems – expert workshop - proceedings

Alert and sentinel approaches for the identification of work-related diseases in the EU: Report  and Summary

Alert and sentinel systems – policy workshop - proceedings 

Alert and sentinel approaches for the identification of work-related diseases in the EU: Presentation for an expert audience

Explore all expert discussion papers on Alert and sentinel systems