North Carolina Occupational Health and Safety Surveillance Program

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dang G ; Gaetz K
• Description:
  Work conditions can have a negative impact on health. Although rates of work-related injuries and deaths are declining in North Carolina, these adverse outcomes still persist. These incidents are preventable, and successful approaches for making workplaces safer begin with having data necessary to improve understanding of the workplace conditions leading to these outcomes. Occupational surveillance can provide important tools to accomplish this. The overall goal of the North Carolina Occupational Health Surveillance Program (OHSP) is to enhance North Carolina's capabilities to characterize occupational risks to health in greater detail, focusing on state-identified priority areas, and use what is learned to develop targeted interventions and other prevention strategies with the help of partners. Better surveillance and improved response capacity will help North Carolina make an impact in the workplace, with the overall goal of reducing workplace injury and death, close persistent gaps in NC occupational health surveillance, and reduce the disproportionate burden from workplace injury and illness on vulnerable worker populations through leveraging more comprehensive, collaborative partnerships and resources for workplace interventions. The NC OHSP is housed within the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB) of the NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Division of Public Health (DPH). From 2015 to 2021, NC OHSP used an approach based on recommendations outlined in the Guidelines for Minimum and Comprehensive State-Based Public Health Activities in Occupational Safety and Health, which includes the three core functions of public health: assessment, policy development, and assurance. The program secured access to occupational health data from a broad range of sources, including existing data from national and state sources, and case-based data from previously established collaborations. The program applied findings from trend reports of workers' health status to establish priorities for further investigation. An advisory group was established with representatives from various disciplines in occupational health, which included regulatory, research, safety, and health, agromedicine, epidemiology, academia, and health promotion at the state and national level. Opportunities for outreach, intervention, and other prevention strategies were identified through data findings, existing public health infrastructure, and/or emerging occupational health issues and initiatives arising from in-state, out-of-state, or national collaborations. Priority focus areas for future OHSP surveillance projects were also identified for the next funding period. These priority areas identified for the next funding cycle included reducing persistently high rates of musculoskeletal disorders and other work-related injuries and fatalities in the agriculture, construction, and transportation/warehousing industry sectors; reducing occupational heat-related illness among farmworkers in North Carolina; reducing fatalities and serious injuries associated with transportation-related incidents; and the need for expanded case-based pesticide exposure surveillance. Ongoing occupational surveillance will allow North Carolina to identify the extent, severity, and patterns of work-related morbidity and mortality; make recommendations to increase awareness of workplace hazards among workers in the state; and ultimately, reduce work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths in North Carolina. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Farmers Occupational Health Public Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Farm Workers Injuries Injury Prevention Occupational Health Public Health Surveillance Programs
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Final Cooperative Agreement Report
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-43
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20067487
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, U60-OH-010909, 2021 Sep; :1-43
• Email:
  kim.gaetz@dhhs.nc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2021
• Performing Organization:
  North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20150701
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:70fc2d708e1f36b45c936d28b299ea2a2d3c37e727563a19a3c0b6e3c6ee6bfcf47dca2cf04739cf274e6e61e79afb4f3fb19eb0483438ecf9e09f3c13f9a01c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/219196/cdc_219196_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 466.86 KB ]