NIOSH research on occupational injury and illness underreporting.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bhandari R ; Marsh S ; Reichard A
• Description:
  Objective: NIOSH initiated two follow back studies of emergency department (ED) patients in 2010: (i) to identify incentives and disincentives for reporting work- related injuries (Barriers study), and (ii) to assess the prevalence of underreporting work-related injuries and illnesses to ED staff, employers, and/or other authorities (Congressional study). This presentation provides an update on these projects. Methodology: Both studies used the occupational supplement to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS-Work), which is a surveillance system for estimating work-related injuries and illnesses treated in EDs. NEISS-Work is populated with data collected through a national stratified probability sample of U.S. hospitals. Potential respondents for the two studies were sampled from NEISS-Work and screened for eligibility during initial telephone interview questions. Eligibility criteria for the Barriers study included workers with acute injuries and excluded self-employed workers, workers on farms, and volunteers. Barriers data were analyzed as a case series. Eligibility criteria for the Congressional study included self-employed workers and workers with illnesses. Congressional data were re-weighted to represent national estimates of ED treated work-related injuries and illnesses. Results: From the Barriers study telephone interviews, 401 respondents met the eligibility criteria. Of these, 99% indicated that they reported their injury to their employer. From the Congressional study telephone interviews, 2,598 respondents met the eligibility criteria. Most (95%) were not self-employed, 96% of which indicated that they reported their injury or illness to their employer. Workers who reported that they were self-employed were generally not covered by workers' compensation. Conclusion: This approach offered advantages including the ability to collect information directly fRom, William N.orkers, capture less severe injuries not reported elsewhere, and capture all worker types. Challenges included low response rates due to little incentive to participate and the fact that the surveys were difficult to administer over the phone. An additional challenge will be faced in presenting results from these studies because the findings are not corroborating with previous underreporting research. Nonetheless, our approach does provide useful insights that could be applied to similar studies in the future.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Chemistry Environmental Monitoring Hazardous Substances Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Emergency-treatment Injuries Medical-care Medical-facilities Medical-treatment Surveillance-programs Work-environment Workers
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  83-84
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047367
• Citation:
  National Occupational Injury Research Symposium 2015, (NOIRS 2015), May 19-21, 2015, Kingwood, West Virginia. Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2015 May; :83-84
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c95e93c94d4c837d18180447507a920dc24236a54c0a7df80f5dd1b4c0ac1d93d1c4e8e3d4f68aa31c659c3cac10f8a9566f3d22d0903839b7113b10507614b4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/181668/cdc_181668_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.24 MB ]