Occupational physician staffing in large US corporations.

Increased provision of occupational health services outside the workplace has been accompanied by signs of change in the quantity and structure of in-house corporate services. The occupational physician:employee ratios of the 25 largest US corporations were compared with each other, with the probable level of hazard as suggested by Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, and with both gross and per-capita measures of profitability. We infer that large corporations still employ a disproportionate share of available occupational health expertise. Oil and chemical companies employ the largest number of occupational physicians per capita; computer, electronics, and scientific equipment manufacturers employ the largest number of occupational physicians per capita relative to occupational illness/injury/lost workdays per capita. Tobacco companies employ the fewest occupational physicians by either measure. Corporate profitability explained more than half the variability for the one large within-sector comparison and appeared most related to employment practices for the most-successful and least-successful companies.