The aim of the circulating occupational medical record (COMR) is to coordinate activities and documents concerning the patient who has an occupational disease. This new case record belongs to the patient, which solves the problems concerning the professional secrecy of the involved authorities. The general practitioner, the trade union and amongst others the safety organisation of the work place all have their own schematic pages in the record. The number and use of COMRs were studied. Postal questionnaires were sent to the primary users of the COMRs. Altogether 345 COMRs were started over the two year period 1989-1991. Two hundred and ninety-eight COMRs were evaluable. The page of the general practitioner was used in 90% of the records, versus 64% in the case of the unionpage and 21% in the case of the safety organisation. In 78% there were documents from medical specialists, psychologists or physiotherapists. The majority of the documents were from the department of occupational medicine. In half of the COMRs there were documents from more than four different sources. Only 76% of the patients were referred to the department of occupational medicine. It is recommended that the COMR should be extended to the whole country.