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Workers’ compensation claims not reported in the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses: Injury and claim characteristics
Author(s) -
Wuellner Sara E.,
Adams Darrin A.,
Bonauto David K.
Publication year - 2017
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.22685
Subject(s) - medicine , occupational injury , workers' compensation , occupational safety and health , indemnity , compensation (psychology) , survey data collection , injury prevention , under reporting , human factors and ergonomics , cross sectional study , payment , poison control , family medicine , environmental health , actuarial science , finance , pathology , psychology , statistics , mathematics , economics , psychoanalysis , business
Background Underreporting in the nation's primary source of non‐fatal occupational injury and illness data are well documented, but worker‐level characteristics of unreported cases have not been fully explored. Methods Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) data were linked to Washington workers’ compensation claims to identify injury and claim characteristics associated with unreported cases. Workers’ compensation administrative date data were used to characterize timing of disability and SOII case eligibility. Results Based on claim date data, one in five lost time claims with an injury date in the survey year were likely ineligible for SOII case reporting during the survey year. Among SOII‐eligible claims, those involving sprains or strains, employer protests, and those not eligible for work disability payments until months after the initial injury were least likely to be reported in SOII. Conclusions SOII case capture is limited both by its cross sectional survey design and employer underreporting. Am. J. Ind. Med. 60:264–275, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.