California Cancer Reporting System Standards Volume I: Abstracting and Coding Procedures
Because the identification of occupational cancer is an important aspect of cancer research, every effort should be made to record the occupation and the industry in which the patient works or worked, regardless of whether the patient was employed at the time of admission.
Ideally, the information should pertain to the longest held job (other than housework performed in the patient's home).
Review all admissions in the patient's medical record, including those before the diagnosis of cancer, and record the best information available. It is not necessary to request parts of the medical record predating diagnosis solely to determine occupation and industry, but review all admissions in the parts pulled for abstracting.
Good sources of information include admission and discharge summaries, face sheets, history and physical examination reports, oncology consultation reports, and health and social history questionnaires the patient has completed.
The CCR will code the occupation and industry using the United States Bureau of the Census occupation and industry classifications.
Please refer to http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2011-173/