title: Online reporting and assessing new occupational health risks in SIGNAAL.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Changes in work and working conditions continuously give rise to new work-related health risks. Without sufficient knowledge of these, opportunities for prevention and intervention may be missed.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To develop, implement and evaluate an online tool called SIGNAAL for reporting and assessment of new work-related health risks by occupational health physicians and experts in the Netherlands and Belgium.
  
  
  METHODS
  Development and implementation of SIGNAAL to allow both easy and sufficient detailed reporting by occupational health physicians and structured and transparent assessment by occupational health experts. A new work-related health risk is defined as a work-related disease due to specific exposure in a specific work setting not described in the literature before.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The online reporting and assessment tool proved to be a feasible means of reporting possible new combinations of health problems and exposures in the work situation. Eleven of the 15 cases reported until October 2014 were fully assessed: one was an entirely new work-related disease, four were known but uncommon work-related diseases, five were known but new in the reported work situation and one was a well-known work-related disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An online reporting system used in an occupational health setting can provide insight into new work-related health risks by creating a structured way to gather, report and assess new combinations of health problems and exposure in the workplace.
authors.affiliation: Netherlands Center for Occupational Diseases, Coronel Institute on Work and Health, AMC/University of Amsterdam, PO Box 22660, 1100 DD Amsterdam, The Netherlands, a.f.lenderink@amc.uva.nl.
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Lenderink
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment and Health, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium, IDEWE, External Service for Prevention and Protection at Work, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keirsbilck
authors.affiliation: Netherlands Center for Occupational Diseases, Coronel Institute on Work and Health, AMC/University of Amsterdam, PO Box 22660, 1100 DD Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: van der Molen
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment and Health, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium, IDEWE, External Service for Prevention and Protection at Work, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Godderis
mesh_terms: D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D019221:Mandatory Reporting; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000517:prevention & control; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D054538:Occupational Health Physicians / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000458:organization & administration; D011482:Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018570:Risk Assessment
keywords: Aetiology; new and emerging risks; online reporting; work-relatedness.