An interview survey on the health care service for workers employed in small-sized enterprises was conducted in a city of Osaka Prefecture. Items surveyed were: 1) number of full-time and part-time employees by age (less than 39, 40-60, and more than 60 yr) and sex, 2) materials and production process, 3) periodic examinations for general health status and occupational diseases, and others. Of the 526 enterprises interviewed, 459 manufacturers with less than 50 employees were analyzed. The results can be summarized as follows:
1. Of the 459 manufacturers, 72.4% were those with less than 10 workers (the mean number of employees: 8.4). The major type of manufacture was electric parts processing industry.
2. The period health examination has been carried out in 372 enterprises (81.0%). The smaller the size of the company, the lower was the rate of the periodic health examination.
3. In 77.4% of the 372 enterprises, only chest X-ray was an item for the periodic health examination, which was usually carried out at the public health center of the community.
4. The number of enterprises conducting the periodic health examination designated by the Industrial Safety and Health Law (1972) was only 49 (10.7%).
5. Fourteen enterprises (3.1%) have carried out periodic examination for occupational diseases.
6. The periodic examination for degenerative diseases such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and other cardiovascular diseases was carried out in 57 enterprises (12.4%). The larger the size of the company, the higher was the rate in which such examination was conducted.
These results show that a health care service system in small-sized manufacturers should be urgently established in close cooperation with a community health service system for promoting the general health status of the workers.