This paper is an analytical description of the experience carried out between 1983 and 2012 by the Workers' Health Special Service, linked to the Minas Gerais Federal University, Brazil. For the investigation design, a qualitative methodology was adopted and, as a research tool, a reflexive reading of documents, of the legislation and of the studied service management reports. The service trajectory is divided in three periods: in the eighties, it played a pioneering role by providing workers in the state of Minas Gerais with occupational health care; in the nineties it faced difficulties due to a crisis in university hospitals, and staff shortage as its personnel went through training. In the first decade of the new millennium, the service became a State Workers Health Reference Center, having to cope with the challenge of conciliating both the Brazilian Unified Health System - SUS' and the Federal High Education Institutions agendas. From 2011 the service redefined its function within SUS, seeking to strengthen its role as a reference for highly complex occupational health procedures, human resource training, and research.
occupational health; occupational health service; evaluation; workers' health care