Representativeness of deaths identified through the injury-at-work item on the death certificate: implications for surveillance

Details

• Personal Author:
  Conroy C ; Russell J
• Description:
  The accuracy of the injury at work item on death certificates for surveillance of occupational injury deaths was investigated. Death certificates, OSHA fatality/catastrophe reports, workers' compensation reports, and medical examiner reports were used to identify 329 Oklahoma workers who were fatally injured between 1985 and 1986. An overall annual average fatal injury rate of 11.3 deaths per 100,000 workers per year (d/w/yr) (2.3d/w/yr for females and 18.7d/w/yr for males) was found. Certificates identified 93% of the female deaths and 72% of the male deaths. Of the male deaths, 82% were identified by medical examiner reports, 57% through workers' compensation reports, and 26% through OSHA reports. Death certificates missed 57% of the fatalities occurring in helpers and laborers, transportation and material moving workers, farmers, precision production workers, crafters, and repairers. The authors confirm that no single data source contains all the death information that is needed to describe fatal strategies; however, they suggest that greater representativeness may be achieved by combining all data sources. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Epidemiology Mortality Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Mortality-data Mortality-rates NIOSH-Author Occupational-accidents Surveillance-programs
• ISSN:
  0090-0036
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Oklahoma ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 6 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  81
• Issue:
  12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00204932
• Citation:
  Am J Public Health 1991 Dec; 81(12):1613-1618
• Contact Point Address:
  Julie Russell, PhD, DIC-CDC-F-36, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30033
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Public Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:148f5e9bb15bda204a7d2b751f9392fb7eb2b5082971ba3bc2daa208aad5edc1420d09610f8dd1f71e3855fb116ae713a754fc0bfaa2d566eda5962c63792e18
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/205491/cdc_205491_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.32 MB ]