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Background: Mandatory medical reports can be used to evaluate the scope of activity of occupational health services (OHS), including the number and kind of services., Material and Methods: The analysis comprised data for the period 1997-2014, derived from mandatory reports MZ-35A submitted by OHS units., Results: During the analyzed period the number of occupational medicine physicians decreased from 8507 to 6741, while the number of OHS units - responsible for prophylactic care - increased from 4967 to 6261. In the years under report 3,961 million mandatory health check-ups were performed, of which 99.3% resulted in issuing fitness for work certificates. Pre-employment examinations made 38.8%, while periodical ones - 52.8% and control ones - 6.7% of all check-ups. Moreover, 336 700 examinations of apprentices, students, vocational courses attendants and Ph.D. students were performed to evaluate any contradictions for vocational training. In 2014, there were 1871 workers provided with preventive care per 1 occupational physician. It was estimated that despite legal obligation, only 22.2% of employers had signed agreements with OHS units., Conclusions: The analysis of the number and kind of services provided by OHS units revealed high but not fully exploited potential for efficient prophylaxis of both directly occupational work-related and indirectly work-exacerbated diseases. Med Pr 2017;68(1):105-119., (This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.)

Objectives: This publication analyses the activities of physicians and occupational medicine units in Poland during this period. Material and Methods: The analysis of the number of physicians and units of occupational medicine and the preventive and judicial activities they carried out was based on the MZ-35 and MZ-35A statistical forms, which constitute mandatory medical reporting. Results: In Poland, during the pandemic, the number of physicians authorized to perform preventive examinations of employees decreased by 9.3% (6597 in 2019 vs. 5984 physicians in 2022). At the same time, the number of basic units of the occupational medicine where preventive examinations of employees decreased from 5974 to 5534 (by 7.4%). The average number of preventive examinations performed annually on employees throughout the pandemic decreased by 9.4% from 5 429 808 (in 2015--2019) to 4 923 161 (in 2020--2023). In the first 2 years of the pandemic, the share of decisions on health contraindications to perform professional activities in the position indicated in the referral increased slightly. During the pandemic, there was also a significant decrease in the number of visits carried out by occupational medicine physicians, both to entire workplaces (by 46%) and to individual positions (by 49%). During the COVID-19 pandemic, occupational medicine physicians reported almost 3 times more suspected occupational diseases than in previous years (an average of 1736 reports per year compared to 673 reports in 2015--2019). The most reports were recorded in 2020 (N = 2183). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the preventive activities performed by occupational medicine physicians. Reducing the number of mandatory medical examinations of employees during the pandemic could have led to the construction of a health debt of the working population, both in terms of limiting the unfavourable impact of working conditions and worsening the chances of early detection of lifestyle diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]