A national, prospective, multicenter survey of accidents involving exposure to HCV-contaminated blood conducted between October 1993 and December 1995 in 25 participating hospitals. A blood exposure incident (BEI) is defined as any incident involving contact with blood or a blood-contaminated body fluid resulting in a skin breach (puncture, cut, etc.) or splatter onto a mucous membrane (eyes, mouth) or onto damaged skin (eczema, wound, etc.). 376 blood-exposure incidents were reported. Documented cases have shown that the occupational risk of HCV infection following percutaneous exposure exists, but that the transmission rate in our countries appears to be low, below 4%.