A study of all episodes of medical contact in a one year period was performed. 19% of the episodes required sick leave. In all groups the employees single contact due to obligatory medical certificates in case of absence were prevalent. Persons with a seniority of more than five years had about 50% more medical contacts. The threshold for medical contact in Greenlanders was lower probably due to a higher number of women and to the acculturative stress. A higher frequency of episodes of illness among leading managers and other executives in the top of the hierarchy and absence of occupational diseases and injuries were characteristic of this group of employees.