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Using emergency department surveillance data to assess occupational injury and illness reporting by workers
Author(s) -
Marsh Suzanne M.,
Reichard Audrey A.,
Bhandari Ruchi,
Tonozzi Theresa R.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.22615
Subject(s) - medicine , occupational safety and health , emergency department , occupational injury , injury prevention , poison control , medical emergency , suicide prevention , occupational medicine , human factors and ergonomics , incentive , telephone interview , injury surveillance , environmental health , occupational exposure , nursing , pathology , economics , microeconomics , social science , sociology
Objective Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) share detailed methodologies from conducting two follow‐back studies initiated in 2010 that were designed to assess whether workers reported their injuries and illnesses to their employers and to identify worker incentives and disincentives for reporting work‐related injuries to employers. Methodology Study respondents were sampled from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System occupational supplement (NEISS‐Work), an emergency department‐based surveillance system. Telephone interviews were used to collect information directly from workers. Outcomes Among persons treated in emergency departments who could be identified as working at the time of injury or illness, most reported their injury or illness to their employer. Our studies did not assess if these reported injuries and illnesses were recorded on the Occupational Safety and Health logs. Discussion Our approach suggests that emergency department‐based surveillance data are limited in their utility to investigate underreporting among workers. Am. J. Ind. Med. 59:600–609, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.